Jerk
by what-if-happens
Summary: Troy is a jerk and Gabriella is the new girl. She is ready to set him in his place when she sees the boy under the charade. In her he finds what he wants, but she is not the one he wanted it from. Now they are stuck playing a game they don't want to play.
1. Jerk

**AN: So I was going to start on what I had written for the sequel for Jay, but then I decide to rewrite it because I didn't like what I had so I decided to type up this. I have been working on it since I started typing Jay and have almost finished hand writing it in a notebook so I think it is time to start typing it up. I think the only thing you need to know is that Troy and Gabriella never met at the ski lodge, but she will go to his school so, maybe not in this chapter, definitely in the next. It starts slow and short, but the chapters get longer, I promise.**

Chapter one

'Let the rain come down,' He thought staring out the classroom window blankly, not paying attention.

"Care to grace us with your attention Mr. Bolton?" The teacher snapped him out of his thoughts.

Troy's head snapped towards the teacher, "Why? Do you think you deserve it?" So he was sort of a jerk, scratch that, he was really a jerk. Everyone would contribute that to his ego. But he actually was pretty good at keeping his ego in place. You could say it was his attitude. And that was true, he had an attitude problem. But everyone treated him like a king because of his dad and from basketball. But it drove him insane that everyone would drop at his feet. It disgusted him how pathetic people were. And that drove him to being a jerk.

He was waiting for someone to stand up to him, for someone to get sick of his attitude. Of course he could never see anyone doing that, not even his best friend. And that bothered him too. Friends, who would want to be friends with him when he was such a jerk. He thought if he was enough a jerk, they would get sick of it one day and crack under his actions and words. And then maybe, just maybe they would tell him to stop being so jerk-y.

"Shut up Bolton and pay attention," the teacher said before going back to teaching. Troy acted as though he was paying attention even though he still hadn't taken in a word that had been said.

The bell rang and Troy bolted from the room. It was time for his favorite class: Gym. He always dominated it no matter what they were playing. And he wanted to change before the other guys got there. It was weird to have the other guys looking at him. He was fit, no way around it, he had the abs, he had the muscles and it was cliché but he had everything. He pushed the door to the locker room open. He fiddled with his locker and popped open. He stashed his bag in it and changed quickly. He was exiting the locker just as most others were entering. He went out and set out on the bleachers. He noticed that the wall was closed today. It meant that the boys were doing something different than the girls. It made the gym seem incredibly small and Troy didn't like it.

Once all the boys were out his dad called them to order. "The girls are doing a dance unit this week, if you would like to join them, you may, but we are going to do a short unit on volleyball before moving on to basketball with the girls," coach said. They dragged out the nets and poles from the storage room and set them up. "Ok you are all junior and should know by now the rules and techniques of the game. But grab a partner, a ball and a block of the wall to practice passing first. Remember to keep your hips low, your arms flat and straight, but don't swing them, just shrug your shoulders."

Troy grabbed his best friend Chad by the shirt and pulled them off the bleachers. It wasn't mean or harsh; it was just the way he did it. Chad never complained and it never hurt him. He pulled out of Troy's grasp and grabbed a ball as Troy got a spot on the wall that was clear of everything. Everyone stayed away from him, as Troy was known to go a little extreme. They passed against the wall for a short time before moving on to setting, hitting and serving across the next with their partner. Troy had a strong arm and aim as he served. He knew he could serve it straight to Chad, but what was the point of looking good? He screwed around a bit and served it other people, one of which wasn't paying attention and went to the nurse's office with a bloody nose. It wasn't an odd occurrence for the gym class. Every boy was always hoping it wasn't him that would end up going.

They went into scrimmaging the last half of class. Whatever team was playing Troy's coward at his might as he served or hit the ball. One poor boy ducked out of the way of one of Troy's serves. Troy blew a circuit at this, "Come on coward! Play the stupid ball; it is not going to hurt forever. Pain fades!" Troy yelled at him angrily. Troy knew a lot about pain physical, emotional and mental, though not that many knew about. What he said was slightly ironic to Troy. He was a jerk so he wouldn't get hurt, which made him a coward.

His dad called them to halt not long after this outburst and sent them to change. Troy changed and slammed his locker shut making the boys in his row jump. He was in a bad mood and everyone could tell. People were pathetic.

"You know you were kinda harsh in there," Shad said in the hallway after class

"I know," Troy said bumping into a freshman, "What where you're going!" he shouted at them. They squeaked an apology and hurried off.

"Like that," Chad said.

"It's a freshman," Troy said. Troy headed to his next class. "You are in my seat," he told a sophomore girl. She scurried away quickly, frightened, to a different seat to talk to her friend. Ug, math, way to make him feel stupid. It was probably his worst subject, right there along side his science course he was taking that year.

"Homework Bolton?" The teacher asked as she came up and down the rows of students looking over people's papers to see if they did it as the students looked to see if they had right answers, which were being screened on the overhead.

"Why would I bother doing your homework?" Troy said, "It is totally pointless." He scooted out his backpack into the aisle as the teacher made a note of his lack of homework on her paper. He held in a laugh as she stumbled over it and caught herself on the desk behind him. The teacher was a pushover, a total flake.

Troy exited quickly after the bell rang for lunch. He pushed one of his teammates out of a seat to sit next to Chad as he set his lunch on the table. Adam, was the guy, rubbed his shoulder but said nothing not wanting to look weak in front of Troy.

"Dude what is your problem today?" Chad asked with some short, fake confidence.

"People are pathetic," Troy mumbled, not sure if anyone actually understood him. He couldn't stand it anymore. He stood up and knocked some nerd's lunch into their shirt, "Watch where you are going," he growled. He disappeared out of the cafeteria and up to his secret spot. No one else knew of this place and that made Troy very happy, it was a place he could be alone.

And Troy liked being alone. Troy had never been good at expressing himself beyond basketball. He wasn't good at talking or communicating vocally or in writing. This caused him to be a very inward person; he tended to keep things to himself. He didn't like to be showy or let others see him or what he had. He had a lot of secrets and kept many other people's secrets. He wasn't into public displays or showing to a vast amount of people really anything other than what he could do with a ball.

And to many people's surprise, he was never very showy with a basketball. He was willing to give up the ball to someone else with a better shot. He had always been a team player. He knew he couldn't get anywhere without his team and always tried to acknowledge them. They were his boys and contrary to common belief, he cared a lot about what they did or what was happening to them or just what was generally going on in their life. And he kept tabs on things. Like when Miles, one of his posts, had one of his grandparents died, Troy made a point of asking him how he was doing and what was being done. Or when Nate's parents had another child even though Nate was 16, Troy asked about his mother and then his little sister. And Troy knew probably more about the little girl than anyone else on the team did. Some where inside the rough exterior that was Troy Bolton was a heart and a guy who did care about the people around him. He just wasn't good at showing it.

As he sat on the rooftop, he contemplated skipping his next class, history. He could go down to the class or he could stay on the rooftop. He strolled into the class a few minutes late and handed the teacher a lie about talking to his dad before taking his seat in the back. He doodled all period. He missed all the cheerleaders in the class attempting to flirt with him over notes. He never replied, not even noticing them on his desk. And they stayed there after the period ended.

He never really ever flirted with any girls. He had dated a little bit before, but nothing was ever all that special. He wasn't really into dating, all the girls attempting a date with him were giggly and annoying and generally just a waste of oxygen on the earth, but then someone had to date the idiot captains of sports. And the fact that Troy couldn't really express himself properly didn't help with the dating part of high school. He didn't know how to tell people that he appreciated them, so they thought that he thought of them indifferently.

Later that day, Troy was in his element at practice. Basketball always gave him a high in life that was like no other, better than you could ever get off of drugs or alcohol. Dribbling, shooting, rebounding, running, it was easy to see why he was captain. There was something almost strange about him when he played. He was so graceful; it was almost like an angel was walking among them. That was until someone screwed up and he opened his mouth; then the jerk came out. He bit off Jason's head for missing a pass. But if it was just him, a ball, and the basket, he was a beautiful sight.

And you couldn't see the wall he had built so strongly around his tender heart. And for a moment you could forget he was a jerk.

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**AN: And that is chapter one, I will be continuing and get chapter two, and maybe three up tonight, maybe more, who knows. Please leave me a review telling me what you think whether it is this chapter or a later one, I just really want to hear what you think. If it is bad, tell me, if it is good, tell me. Don't write 'Good, update soon' it doesn't really give me anything.**


	2. Hallways

**AN: Here is the second chapter and the third will be out with in the next day or so.**

Chapter 2

Troy had woken up late, couldn't find his favorite shirt, his locker was jammed (from him kicking it so many times), he had detention for being late to class, and it wasn't even the end of homeroom yet. Through his dismal morning he had failed to notice the new girl in his class. Not that he had ever paid attention to girls, they were annoying, giggly creatures that were a waste of oxygen to him.

He continued to not notice her until he ran into her on his rage to his next class. "Watch it!" He growled. Even though he had ran into her, she was still at fault here to him

"You ran into me actually," She said and everyone in the hallway turned to look at her.

"Stay out of my way," he said roughly before brushing passed her.

"Ok, so watch out for guy with big blue eyes," she said to herself.

"That's Troy Bolton, basically thinks he runs the school," An African-American girl by her said, the girl stuck out a hand to her, "Taylor McKessie."

"Gabriella Montez," She shook the girl's hand, "Is he always that callous?"

"Yes, and that wasn't the worse of his tirades," Taylor said.

"Can you point me in the direction of room 268?" Gabriella asked.

"I'm going there myself, Mrs. Harper's chemistry class. She's really nice, everyone likes her," Taylor said as they started to walk down the halls.

"So what is up with Troy Bolton?" Gabriella couldn't help but ask.

"His dad's a teacher here and is the coach of the boy's varsity basketball team, which Troy is the captain and star of. He is basically a really big jerk but no one will tell him because he'd rip them to pieces and then burn the remains."

"So then why do the people treat him like a king, just something I noticed it"

"People take basketball very serious here at East High, I personally don't know why, but they do."

"Well, hopefully that will be the last time I see him again," Gabriella said as they reached a door that said 268 on a plaque next to it.

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Troy banged down into his seat that day at lunch. No one said a word. His mood was obviously really bad that day and no one was ready to take him on, not even Chad. "Who's the new girl?" He asked.

"Gabriella Montez, just moved here from South Carolina, really smart, our year," Jason reported.

"She ran into me in the hallway and blamed it on me," Troy lied; though none of them knew that.

"Did you do anything?" Chad asked cautiously.

"I was late to class," Troy said, "And she's a girl. If she were a guy, I wouldn't have thought twice about it and she'd be lying in the hospital right now."

The guys looked at him and sucked in a deep breath. Troy would never touch a girl, but now sounded like he wanted to. They knew they would have to watch him now to make sure that he didn't do anything stupid. Troy got up and walked away, going up to his secret spot. He skipped his next class wanting to cool himself off some. He had someone talk back to him and he didn't know how to react to it. He had wanted this day to come, but it wasn't from whom he expected it. He always thought it would be Chad or a basketball guy, not the new girl.

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Later that week in the gym, the girls had finished their dance unit, making the boys more the happy to get off of volleyball. Troy ended up sending four more boys to the nurse's office in the short time span.

The wall had retracted and everyone knew what was next. Troy was excited for this next unit: basketball. The only draw back to it was the co-ed part. He had to work with the girls. Girls couldn't play ball, like before, they were a waste of oxygen.

Troy sat on the bleachers already dressed out, waiting for everyone else to change. That is when he saw her. The girl from the hallway was walking out of the girl's locker room. _Great,_ he thought. He had hoped to never see her again. Coach Bolton and the girl's coach – Coach Fris - called everyone to attention. For the first day they would just be working on ball handling and passing and such, no scrimmaging.

Troy rolled his eyes at this. He was able to do things with a ball you had to see to believe. Coach Bolton brought out a cage of balls and told them to pair up and grab a ball. Troy grabbed Chad by the collar and went to grab a ball.

They started out just dribbling the ball, which was a difficulty for some people on its own. Troy was just glad that there were no freshmen in the class or else he would have lost it. He almost did with some idiot hit their ball off their foot and it knocked Troy's ball, messing him up. Chad grabbed the ball and dragged Troy to a different part of the gym. They eventually got to other things like between the legs, crossovers, behind the back, spins and the dreaded left hand.

Coach Bolton always had Troy demonstrate. And it was during these demonstrations that Gabriella could notice his beauty with such a simple ball. She could see the gracefulness in his movement. The ball seemed to complete him. It all seemed so natural. Now for a brief moment in time, she could see why people respected him, but only when he was silent and had a ball in hand.

They got with their partners and did different types of passes before they had to change before the period ended. And even after they had changed, Troy was messing around with Chad with a spare ball. They were basically just showing off, but it still had that beauty to it. And it was during this that Gabriella heard him laugh. It was a full laugh; it really filled the big gym. And you couldn't see the jerk for a moment. It added to the beauty that had initially drew Gabriella in, it was enchanting.

The bell rang and Gabriella left the gym. Troy and Chad put up the ball and left the gym too. Troy was finally in a good mood. The school hadn't seen him this way for a very long time. Troy was smiling, giving random members of his team a high five. He threw his head back in a rumbling, bubbling laugh. Yes this was a different Troy Bolton.

Each hallway he walked down was in awe of this handsome, laughing Troy Bolton. Some of them were scared of a calm before a storm and scampered off quickly. Others watched him as he conversed easily with Chad. And others still, were willing to welcome him warmly into their lives.

This was a black and white contrast to the Troy Bolton the next day. No one knew what happened to him as he stomped down the hallways pushing everyone out of his way. He had to becoming down of a basketball high. He dug lower and lower after each one. He bumped into so many people he couldn't yell at them all.

"I believe that is the second time you have bumped into me and I have yet to have an apology for either account," someone finally pulled him from his daze. It had to be that girl from before, Gabriella, Jason had called her.

"Maybe you ought to watch it then," Troy said, angrily, "Third time I won't hesitate to go for blood."

"I have yet to do any wrong yet, unlike you."

"That is where you have reality wrong, I don't do anything wrong, get use to it."

"Maybe you need to pull yourself out of your fairy-tale and get to the real world."

"I am in the real world!" Troy shouted at her. He was mad, everyone had cleared out except for Gabriella. No one wanted to face Troy in his rage, not even his friends dare that.

"Then why do you walk around here like a king, when you are really just a jerk?"

Troy stared at her a long and hard moment as she did the same. No one had ever told him that. "If you was to come out of East High alive, you better find your place, fast, and out of my way," Troy hissed and he walked away.

He skipped his next class to go up to his secret place. That girl got under his skin. And it bugged him. Who did she think she was? But then again, this is what he wanted. He wanted someone to tell him that didn't he? He never say the day coming so maybe he didn't really want it to happen.

Maybe he didn't like her because she had gotten to him. She had found away under his skin. She had made a good hard hit to the wall he had to protect his heart. Maybe the wall was crumbling at her. He needed to repair it, and fast, but how?

Ok, so maybe he should go impulsively. What did he want to do? He wanted to punch someone. He wanted to fight. The physical hurt from that would then in turn heal the emotional, internal ones that no one saw. Don't ask how it makes sense, it did to him and that was all that mattered. He had a way to fix himself and that is what he direly needed.

He went back down after the period ended and went looking for a fight. The first guy that he bumped into he started to throw punches. The guy on the other end came out worse than Troy. While Troy came away relatively unscathed both on the outside and inside.

He had a detention for fighting, but it was fine price to pay for what he had repaired. His guarded heart was now even more protected that before and he felt good about it.

**AN: Ok that is chapter two and I still love reviews and I am stopping for the night since it is past midnight and I am tired. I may work on the next chapter tomorrow morning and then the story will go on. So once again, please leave me a review, I love hearing from my readers.**


	3. Baskets

**AN: Thank you to all of you who have reviewed for me for the first two chapters, I am really happy at the response that I got, making me more antsy to update.**

Chapter 3

Troy's dad yelled at him for getting detention and missing part of a practice, but Troy didn't care. He was grounded from the TV and his cell phone for a week. Neither really bothered him, he usually just watched the NBA on TV and only used his phone when he had to. He wasn't really into texting or things like that. He didn't make many calls, as he'd rather talk to you in person.

Gabriella swore that he was bipolar as he came into school later that week the happy, not jerk Troy suit. He was impossible to keep up with. He was cranky, then a jerk, then laughing, the yelling at some poor freshman, then giving Zeke a high five. He was in all directions. Troy was on a roller coaster of emotions as the first time he noticed that Gabriella was in his history class. He knew that he was worse than a girl on PMS with all his mood swings.

Right now he was sitting in said history class, bored beyond belief. Chad kicked his chair and Troy turned to glare at him, "Papers," Chad said lowly. Troy turned around to see that there were papers on his desk for him to pass back. He took one for himself and tossed the rest over his shoulder at Chad. He looked at the top of the paper, 'Partner Project' it read, great. There were different choices of projects for you to choose from to do over the three ancient civilizations of the Americas.

"Bolton!" the teacher yelled, "pay attention!"

"I am!" Troy yelled back.

"Then who is your partner?" the teacher asked more calmly.

"I didn't say I was, I said I am paying attention."

"Montez, now pay attention," the teacher went on.

Montez? Who was that? Troy didn't recognize the name until that told him who it was, the new girl, just spectacular.

The teacher must have told them to get with their partner as Gabriella came over to his desk. "Ok, so I know we started out on the wrong foot, but call me a truce and let's just do the project," she said, sticking out a hand. Troy just looked at it.

"I don't do truces," Troy said.

"You know we have to work together," Gabriella said, Troy could see her becoming frustrated.

"Says who?" Troy asked.

"Don't expect me to do all the work, you have to do some too," She said.

"Oh yeah? Watch me," Troy pulled out his phone that he just got back and started to text someone even though he hated doing it.

"Oh no you don't, you are working, you don't have to like it, but you are," Gabriella snatched his phone out of his hand and held it out of his reach.

"Hey! Give me that back, now!"

"Not until we figure out what we are doing and who is doing which of what."

"Give me back my phone now!" He said deadly.

"I was thinking letters A and C sounded easy, but if you wanted to something else, I would."

"Give me back my phone before I crush your wrist."

"Work with me. I don't care if you hate me, but I want an A, so please work with me!" Troy grabbed her wrist sharply and scraped his phone out of her hand. "Ow, that hurt, you are such a jerk!" Gabriella said, rubbing her wrist, looking at him.

"I told you what would happen, now just get out of my sight!"

"No! We have until the end of the period to work, and this is one of the few times we are going to be able to work on it in class, so we will have to work together outside of class."

"Oh darling, I don't work," he said cruelly.

"Why do you have to be impossible?"

"Because I do."

"You don't have to, you have a choice."

"And I made that choice a very long time ago."

"Choices can be changed."

"Don't hold your breath."

"I'm not, I'm lining up to kick you where the sun don't shine if you don't work."

Troy oddly took this threat seriously as he looked at the enraged girl, "A and C are fine."

"Thank you, now will you do part 2 of A and part 1 of C and I will do the rest."

"What if I wanted to do something different?"

"Do you?"

"No, just wanted to know what you'd say."

"Now you know, woop-dee-do."

The bell rang and Troy smirked at her before getting up and leaving, he'd won, he could tell. Gabriella let out a frustrated noise. She stomped back to her seat to grab her bag before walking out of the classroom.

Troy wasn't in all that of mood after that argument so he went up to his place to think. They couldn't get along in their side-by-side life, so how were they to work together, their lives mixing. That and a small part of him liked arguing with her. He actually had someone to talk back to him, some one who could keep up with him in an argument. He hadn't had someone who could do that in a very long time. And everyone here was afraid of him. So why wasn't she afraid of him? Not knowing that answer bothered Troy. It was an unknown in his world where he knew everything.

Maybe he should try and scare her, and then maybe the world would go back to how it was suppose to be. But she wasn't afraid of his usual way he instilled fear in new kids. Maybe nothing would scare her. That would be bad right? _Yes, it would be_, Troy told himself.

After the next bell, Troy walked down the stairs and out into the hallway. As he opened the door, he hit a freshman with the door. He slammed the door and walked away. The kid ran to the nurse with a bloody nose and a black eye. More people went to the nurse because of Troy than any other cause beside sick fakers.

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The next day in history was the only time in class they had to work on their projects. Troy got into it with Gabriella and their yelling got them kicked into the hallway. "I suggest you set your differences aside and try to get along," The teacher said before closing the door to the classroom.

"I tried that," Gabriella said to herself, but Troy still heard her.

"Come on," Troy grabbed her arm and dragged her along to the library. Gabriella stumbled after him, trying not to fall. "One rule, no talking," Troy said. He let go of her arm and walking into the library.

"Could have just asked me to follow," Gabriella said rubbing her arm.

"Would you?"

"Depends on how you asked."

"Whatever, we're here, just work," Troy left her at the door and sat down at a table and he took his book out of his bag and flipped through the pages. Gabriella took a seat in the chair in the opposite corner from him and got out her stuff too. They worked in a weird silence until the bell rang. Troy hurried out of the library once it did ring.

"It is like I have a disease," Gabriella muttered to herself as she gathered up her things and left. What was his problem? What had she done wrong? Was her existence bothering him? He was really out there with his strange mindset.

Troy was ready to blow off his next class as he often did after being with Gabriella. She always got under his skin and he needed to cool off, but he remembered he had a test. He went to the class and made a design on his answer sheet. He didn't know the material, what was the point it wouldn't be important in five years. He forged a note from his dad asking to see him after he finished his test and he gave it to the teacher, not that she was really paying attention anyways. He wondered up the steps to his spot. He had been spending a lot more time up there since Gabriella got to this school.

He was fidgety until the final bell of the day rang. He sprinted out of his class and to the gym. He changed quickly and went out to the court. He was ready to sweat. H was ready to work. He was ready to get her off his mind. Other players drifted in. He dad called them to attention. He told them to warm up with four laps around the gym and then some normal ball handling drills. Troy was of course the first to finish. He was doing to b e mad if his dad went light on them today. He wasn't disappointed

All the other boys, including Chad, were ready to die at the end of practice. The guys lay out on the floor of the gym, exhausted while Troy was still shooting around.

"How do you still have energy?" Chad asked.

"Just do," Troy said making a basket.

"You're not human," Chad said pulling himself off the ground and going to the locker room.

Troy continued to shoot around into the night. His dad left, telling him not to stay too late and that his mom would have dinner ready in about an hour. Troy nodded and jumped and shot a three. Swish! It had almost become too easy. Even with all of his frustrations with Gabriella, nothing threw off his game. If anything, the annoyance of Gabriella had improved his game. He concentrated harder on what he was doing. He concentrated on keeping her off his mind and basketball on it.

The door to the gym opened, Gabriella, "Sorry," She said. "I was going to just cut through to the parking lot, I can go around."

Troy, who had stopped shooting, "Go through, it is just walking, it is not like you are murdering someone unless you are wanting to take a swing at me." He went back to shooting, not noticing that she hadn't moved.

"Wow you are really good, how'd you do that?" She asked as she watched.

"You know, when I said walk through, I thought you would actually walk through and not be a disturbance," Troy said. She looked away, blushing. It was cute, not that Troy would ever admit it though, "And it is called practice."

"You must have done a lot of practice."

"When your dad's the coach you are going to do a lot of practice."

An awkward silence fell between them.

"Why are you still here?" Troy asked.

"I was working on our history project," She said, "Can we work on it tomorrow during free period?"

"I have practice," Troy said automatically.

"Oh," Gabriella said lamely.

"Before school, 7, in the library," Troy said.

"Works for me," Gabriella said. She wanted out of the situation now, so did Troy, he wasn't comfortable at all. "I am going to go then, I'll see you tomorrow," she said walking out but stopped at the half court "You know you make it look more than just a bunch of sweaty boys running around with an orange ball, it looks almost eloquent."

Troy missed a shot when he heard this, the first one in a while, "What?" He asked confused.

"In gym and now, you make it look so easy when it isn't. It would be the type of thing little boys watch and wish they could do and become when they are older."

"Are you calling me inspirational?"

"Maybe I am, maybe I'm not."

"Ok whatever, and it is as easy as it looks. It's just," Troy stopped he didn't know how to explain it, "shoot, it's just shoot."

"Just shoot makes people get hit in the head because of me," She said.

"Then those people are stupid. They should be paying attention to the ball."

"I don't think watching the ball with help if the ball starts in my hands."

Troy wanted to laugh at that but didn't allow himself to, "So you have your own murder weapon if you have a ball in your hands?"

"Something like that," Gabriella said with an almost smile; she couldn't believe it, a joke from Troy Bolton to her.

"I'd like to see that," Troy said walking towards her and stopping at the top of the key.

"Just protect yourself and don't pass it, I can't catch," Gabriella said, she couldn't believe she was doing this either, she was going to look like an idiot. She set her stuff down on the floor and walked towards him. He handed her the ball and she walked up to the free throw line, "Watch yourself," she said.

"I'm behind you," he said.

"As long as you are in the gym with me, you are in danger," She said lining up. She shot the ball awkwardly and air-balled it.

"You just shamed my gym with that shot," Troy said as Gabriella fetched the ball.

"I told you, I can't do it," She handed the ball back to him.

"It could be worse."

"How?"

"The ball couldn't have ended up behind you."

"True, but I'll never make a free throw, making me fail gym and there goes my grade point average as I fail a class for the first time ever."

"I thought you were suppose to be smart?"

"I am, just in math or science, not physical activities."

Troy cocked an eyebrow at her, "Ok."

"Ok, rephrase, at sports and non-academics."

"Sounds less dirty," Troy said. He took a deep breath and cursed himself mentally but then continued, "Do you wanna learn how?"

"How what?"

"To make a free throw."

"Are you offering? It would save my GPA."

"One-time, limited time offer that is going quickly."

"Yes I would.

"Ok," Troy handed her the ball, "First of all, your grip was wrong, you are right-handed right?" Gabriella nodded. "Ok, so you put your index finger of your right hand right under the air pump valve. And let the rest of your fingers rest in the grooves for grip." Troy stood behind holding the ball and took her hand and placed in the correct position, "And then your left hand is used to guide the ball on the side so it goes straight. I usually put my middle finger in a groove for some extra grip on the ball," He placed her left hand on the side of the ball under his. "Line up with the basket and take a deep breath. Bend your knees and start with the ball just under your chin. And it is like creating the top half of a 'C' in the air with the ball, like this," Troy went through the motions without letting go of the ball. "And jump, you'll probably need the extra power. Got it all?" He looked at her and she nodded. "Try it." He let go of her and took a step back, "Wait, move to the left just a bit," he put his hands on her hips and moved her to the left a few inches, "Now try it," He let go and stepped back again. She shot the ball like he told her and it bounced off the rim and out of the basket to the right.

"Definitely a start," Troy said.

"Improvement from before," she said.

"Try it again, and think about making your movements more fluent, they should flow, and keep your elbow in, it will make your shot straighter," Troy coached.

Gabriella, now less nervous, bent her knees and shot. It hit off the backboard and the rim before falling into the basket. Gabriella squealed and threw her arms up in triumph. She turned around and jumped on Troy, hugging him. Troy was shocked by this. She quickly came to her sense and let go of him and backed away. "Sorry, I was just overly excited, I've never done it before. I didn't mean to."

"It's, um, ok," Troy said still shocked, "Just not my style." He didn't know what just happened. His skin was tingling from her touch. "I, um, should be getting home, my mom should be finishing dinner."

"Yeah me too," Gabriella said awkwardly.

"You wait just a minute, I'd walk out to the parking lot with you," Troy said. He wasn't sure if he should be punching himself or thank himself.

This surprised Gabriella too. "Um, ok, I'll wait here," she said. He went into the locker room and put the ball away, grabbed his bag and walked back out. Gabriella was standing at half court awkwardly with her bag over her shoulder.

They walked out to the parking lot in silence, "I'll see you tomorrow morning then?" Troy said when they were about three rows back. He had his keys out and he hit the unlock button. A car a few yards down to the right flashed its lights.

"Yeah," Gabriella said. Troy turned to walk to his car. Gabriella walked back another two rows and to the left to her car. She shook her head, thinking about what had just happened. It was different than anything else. She got in her car and drove home. She couldn't believe the Troy Bolton she had met that night in the gym

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**AN: There is the next chapter. There is still more to come hopefully tomorrow morning or at least sometime tomorrow at least that is what I am shooting for. Please leave me a review telling me what you think and I will try to get the next chapter up soon.**


	4. Crying

**AN: Thank you to all of you who reviewed for me, I really love hearing what you say. I know the end seemed a little odd but there is always something more. Here is the next chapter where you will learn even a little more, but not everything. I still hold the Ace of Hearts.**

Chapter 4

Troy walked into the library the next morning a few minutes before seven. He wasn't sure what to expect that day with Gabriella after the weird night they had before. Gabriella was there already working, no surprise there. He set down his bag and sat in the chair across from her. She didn't look up at him. That bugged him, but he couldn't tell you why. He got out his work and started. They worked in silence for a while. "Are you ever going to acknowledge that I am even here?" Troy couldn't stand the silence anymore.

"Do you want me to?" Gabriella finally looked up at him.

"Just stop being so silent, it is worse than a cemetery."

"Hello, happy?"

"Very."

Silence fell between them again.

"Troy," Gabriella said breaking the silence again.

"Yeah?"

"Thanks for last night with the free throws."

"You're welcome," Troy said uncomfortably. He wasn't really into thank yous or sorrys. He couldn't even remember the last time he actually said sorry out loud. He never said it. Chad knew of a look he used to convey that he was sorry to him, but he never said it. And Chad never saw the look that too often. And thank yous were rare as well. So far this school year, Troy could only think of saying it twice. He just wasn't a touchy feely guy, at least not at school. Home was a little different, he was polite to his parents and family, but even then it was mumbled and hard to hear and understand.

Gabriella continued to work and so did he. Troy tried to not think of anything but the Incas and their accomplishment and not of the girl sitting across from him. She didn't notice his restlessness.

"Same thing tomorrow?" He asked as a warning bell rang and he gathered up his stuff.

"Yeah," she said. She finished her sentence and then packed up her stuff. Her phone went off and she looked at it confused. Troy heard her answering it as he left the library.

He was mad at himself for noticing that she wasn't in homeroom. He pushed it to the back of his mind as he got up to leave after the bell. He wondered what the phone call entailed. One of the first things that happened to Troy when he walked out of the classroom was run into Austin Lee, quarterback and captain of the Varsity football team, a senior and a class 'A' ass. You could say he was like Troy, but Troy always found a reason of why he was better that Lee.

"What where you are going Bolton," Lee sneered.

"I was, but if I were you, heaven forbid something that bad would happen to me, I would be taking that advice," Troy sneered back.

"Well it is a good thing that you aren't me, because if you were, this school wouldn't have gotten a state championship last year since you failed at yours unlike me," Lee said dredging up the fact that last year and this year Lee had led his team to a championship. Troy was still working on this years, but last year he had played with a temp. of 102.3 and his team ended up losing by 2 in triple overtime.

Troy was ready to come to punches with Lee when Chad showed up. Chad saw what was happening and he grabbed Troy by the waist and dragged him off down the hall and around the corner before any contact was made. They ended up near Troy's locker when Chad let go if him, "Another fight and you'll be sitting next game," Chad said as Troy straightened his shirt and looked to see where they were at.

Some sophomores were looking at them and it bugged Troy, "Scram!" He screamed at them. They quickly darted away. Troy saw his locker a few feet away and went to it. He opened it and grabbed a book. "Hey, Chad."

"Yeah, dude?" Chad said looking at him.

Troy looked around to see who was around them, there wasn't really anyone. "Um, thanks dude," Troy said quietly. He was glad someone was watching out for him even when he didn't was someone to, or he wished he didn't need anyone to watch out for him.

"Just doin' my job dude, and we need you next game if we want a chance at winning," Chad said, "See you later man." Chad wondered off.

"Yeah," Troy shut his locker and walked in the opposite direction of Chad. He saw a crouched figure wrapped up in a ball down the hallway. They were crying, great. That is exactly not what he needed now, was a crying person. Troy hated crying people, they bothered him. And he didn't know why. Either because they were weak enough to break and cry or because they were strong enough to show such real emotions. Troy was neither, he had never cried.

As he got closer to pass the person he saw it was Gabriella. He had a heated, quick internal debate of whether or not to stop. He got to her and grabbed her arm, hauling her up. He pulled her along until he came to a familiar door. "Don't cry in public, it brings everyone else down," He said as he opening the door and gently pushing her in there. He closed the door and walked away to his class. He just hoped she wouldn't be there when he needed it.

Gabriella wasn't even sure it was Troy as she stood inside the door. There were stairs to her left. She looked at the door once again before she walked up the stairs. They lead to a small balcony covered in plants. It over looked the school and it was beautiful. A roof top garden, Gabriella wondered how many knew of this place. She would definitely have to remember it. It was nice, it was peaceful. She walked to the bench there, sat down and started to cry again. She failed to notice the start of the next period when it came along.

"Are you done crying yet, this is my spot and I would like it back," a voice said a little harshly. It was Troy. Gabriella tried to stop her tears. She got up to leave; it was easy to see he didn't want her there. "Don't go back down there if you are just going to start crying again. There is no reason you should bring down someone else's day just because yours sucks."

Gabriella looked at him. She couldn't believe he said that, "Sorry, next time my grandmother dies, I'll make sure that I'm in solitary confinement. Oh, wait, you only die once."

"You can die more than once, doctors bring people back to life all the time," Troy argued.

"Those people aren't legally dead, their heart just stops beating."

"They are still dead."

"They aren't being prepped for a funeral."

"Just don't cry, it doesn't help."

"Then what am I suppose to do?"

"I think that I played solitaire for about five hours after I found our my grandmother died. Never shed a single tear."

"You are so callous!"

"She loved the game, knew at least five different variations. She played it all the time since she didn't have anyone to play with."

"So I am just suppose to play cards, yeah, don't think that is going to help me."

"It is something other that crying, crying gets you nowhere."

"It releases emotion."

"It express emotion, but goes no where in dealing with those emotions."

"So how are you supposed to deal with them?"

"You have to figure that out yourself, no one can tell you how."

"Well that was a big help."

"You have to come to terms with it!"

"Maybe I don't want to!"

"Then dig your own grave. It just hurts you."

"How do you know what's good for me? You don't even know me!" Gabriella shouted.

"I am not talking about just you, I am talking about everyone, you are just specifying it to yourself!" Troy shouted back.

"You are infuriating," Gabriella said. She got up and pushed her hair out of her face and stomped down the stairs. She wiped away her last remaining tears and turned to Troy, "There, no tears." She stomped off to class.

Troy watched the door slam shut. He had a sub in his class, they wouldn't be doing anything worthwhile, so he was skipping. He knew there was nothing wrong with crying over the loss of the loved one. He was just never able to do it. Two years back when his grandmother died, he heard his father quietly weeping in his office. But Troy never did it. It never happened to him. He couldn't ever remember letting a tear roll down his cheeks. Not at his grandmother's funeral. Not when he was five and he scraped his knee so bad, he had to have stitches. Not when he was in a car crash when he was eight. Not when his cousin committed suicide almost five years ago. Not when he found out in 8th grade that his girlfriend was cheating on him. Not when his mother had cancer and ended up having a hysterectomy. He didn't cry when he lost the championship last year. He almost cried as a baby according to his parents. Maybe he was just physically able to cry, whatever it was, he never cried. And he didn't think there would ever come a time he would.

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**AN: I know that is short. But right after I post this I am beginning work on the next chapter. Leave me a review and maybe I'll get the next chapter up tonight too. And I know this one took longer than I thought it would, and I am sorry, but am seriously about to go start work on the next one.**


	5. Ellie

**AN: Ok so I discovered that my next chapter was even shorter than the last so I am adding onto it with stuff from the chapter after it, which is what took so long. I had to figure out where I was cutting stuff, but I think it all turns out ok.**

Chapter 5

The next morning Troy and Gabriella worked in absolute silence, no hellos or byes. Neither of them said a word. Troy was mad and moody. Gabriella was just plain mad at Troy and what he had said the previous day. A warning bell went off and they packed up in silence and left in silence. The silence stayed. All day. Neither said a word.

In gym they were still in the basketball unit. Troy still led the class. His eyes wondered everywhere around the gym but to her. He wouldn't look at her. He wouldn't allow himself to notice her. Not that she couldn't dribble to save her life. Not that she made her free throws during a drill. Not that she wouldn't let herself notice him. And the week continued in silence. Both were waiting for the other to crack. And Troy was bound and determined to win. He never lost at the silent game. Not the ones lasting a few hours with Chad. Not that day long ones with his parents. Not the one freshman year with Jason that lasted two months. He was fine living in silence. It made people less afraid of him and him less angry. Maybe that was his problem, he was angry all the time. It was little things usually got to him like his locker, his car, a teacher or a teammate. Big things he usually tried to block out and pretend that they didn't happen. What he should do with little things he did with big things and what he did with big things he should do with little things. Either way, he was contempt with this silence. And better yet, he could see her cracking. She stared at him sometimes. She looked like she was going to talk to him a number of times. He could read her easily. Not talking or yelling, like it was most of the time, was killing her.

Finally one morning in the library as they worked she said, "Can we stop acting like we're five and at least say a work or two to each other?"

"You can do what ever you please," Troy said, but not looking up at her.

"Look, I was upset, and you were there to take it out on."

"Ok."

"And I am sorry for yelling at you," _an apology, great_, Troy thought, he didn't do apologies.

"I am upset with myself over some of my word choices."

"No sorry in there."

"I don't say sorry," Troy said.

Gabriella looked at him for a long, hard moment, "How do you have friends?"

"What?" Troy finally looked up at her, taken back.

"You are a jerk, you yell at people constantly, you are callous and mean. None of which are qualities that most people look for in friends, and yet you are still surrounded by people all the time."

"Not all of them are my friends."

"Well they sure seem to like you."

"Just because they like me doesn't mean I like them. I really only consider Chad, Zeke and Jason my friends, the others I just tolerate."

"Do all the others know that?"

"Yeah, they just put up with me so they can be added to the list, or at least they hope to be."

"They won't ever be added to the list, you are antisocial and can't stand people."

"Well now that you have judged me, I am going," Troy stood up and got his stuff together. The silence was broken, but it wasn't broken very pleasantly. And the silence still loomed overhead until the end of the week and Friday came along. Friday was full of noise.

Troy and Gabriella got in a shouting match in homeroom over something stupid no one really knew what it was. Darbus tried to hold them afterwards and for them to talk it out reasonably. But it didn't work. They faked it to stay out of detention, but went back to shouting in the halls. Now it was over the others acting skills and how the other almost got them caught and put in detention.

They bickered in gym over a ball or something to that effect. Coach Fris split them up quickly and sent them to opposite sides of the gym. Troy was furious by the time lunch came along. He wasn't ready to face the lunchroom. He walked along the hallway that led to his spot. He heard voices. One was a girl and the other a guy. He turned the corner to see Mathew Daniels, the varsity pitcher, with his latest fling pushed up against the lockers. Yuck, Troy hated any and all forms of PDA. And even just holding hands could get to him sometimes. PDA was gross to everyone around and was meant for private. The girl tried to reach up and slap him. And that was when Troy noticed that it was Daniels latest fling but just some girl. Daniels grabbed the girl's wrist before it could come in contact with his face. And Troy hated that even more than just PDA. He was ready to strangle Daniels. Troy rammed Daniels off the girl with his shoulder. He sucker punched Daniels before Daniels knew what was going on. Troy shoved him against the lockers and held him there with his forearm.

"Just let this serve as a warning for the next time you even _think_ about touching another girl," Troy said lowly in a deadly growl. He pulled Daniels a few inches from the lockers and slammed him back into them. "Now get out of here," Troy shoved the baseball pitcher down the hall and turned to the girl. He looked at her, silently crying, holding onto her wrist. Troy did a double take as he recognized her, "Gabriella," He said softly, kneeling next to her.

She tried to quickly wipe away her tears, knowing how he hated it. He didn't say anything about it though. He picked her up with one arm under her knees and his other under her back. He carried her to the nurse not letting himself get irritated by her tears. He kicked open the door to the nurse's office. There was no one but the nurse in the main room. He carried her back to one of the dark rooms and laid her down on a bed. He walked out to the nurse and said, "Check out her wrist, give her some ice and send her home," Troy said in a tone of voice that the nurse would listen to and do just what he said.

As he was walking out he heard the nurse ask him, "Did you do this?"

"No, Mathew Daniels did," Troy said before letting the door slam shut. He went to the lunchroom even though it had been the original place he was avoiding.

"Dude where were you, what happened?" Chad asked.

"Mathew Daniels happened," Troy said.

They all knew of Daniels reputation. He was a notorious violator of the PDA rule. He had his tongue down a different girl's throat each day with two day flings. Though most girls welcomed it even though they knew his reputation. But there were a small amount of girls that didn't welcome it and that percentage and those incidents are what Troy really hated. Most people didn't understand this hatred. But those few who did, had a lot of respect for Troy in that aspect.

No one pushed the subject any further. They didn't want Troy to explode and cause any damage. Daniels was a sore subject for Troy. Almost any varsity captain was a sore spot for Troy. They didn't like him and he didn't like them. They were asses and Troy was younger than them, but yet better than them.

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"Troy, sweetie, wake up," his mother, Jenny, coaxed the next morning, like she did most weekdays.

"Saturday, no school," Troy said from below his pillow.

"Ellie," His mother said. Troy popped his head up tiredly. "You dad and I are going shopping for her birthday presents before we take her to the zoo this afternoon. Watch her and keep her from asking where we are."

"Ok," Troy said letting his head hit the pillow again.

"She's up now and your dad is feeding her breakfast, get up, we leave in fifteen," she said before walking out of the room.

Troy sighed and pushed himself up. How could he forget, his sister's birthday. It was in six days. Of course he could remember why he had forgotten, Mathew Daniels. He grabbed a shirt and shorts and pulled them on. He walked tiredly downstairs to the kitchen. It was 9:30 am; he was usually asleep until at least noon on Saturdays.

"Morning sport," Jack said as Troy walked in.

"Too early," he mumbled and his mother handed him a plate of eggs and toast with a fork. She set a glass of orange juice in front of him as he took a seat at the table."

"Troy, wakey, wakey," Ellie said.

"Why do four-year-olds wake up so early, I thought that they slept a lot," Troy complained as he started to eat.

"That's babies, Troy, now eat," Jenny said.

"I'll be five in sixes days," Ellie said looking at her fingers, trying to hold up five of them, but she didn't really know how many five was. Jack helped her out and she held up five fingers towards Troy.

"Yes you will be," Jenny said as she fixed Ellie's hair, pulling it back in a pigtails as Ellie finished eating. After Jenny finished, she and Jack left for the mall.

"So what are we doing today Ellie?" Troy asked as he rinsed off his plate and glass before setting them in the sink.

"Chalk!" she said excitedly, "All my drawings are bye-bye."

"Yeah, it rained a couple nights ago," Troy said. She had to be artsy. "Ok, lets go," He picked her up and rested her on his hip as he checked the front door to see if it was locked. He locked it and turned off most of the lights, but left some on to look like someone was inside. He walked out to the garage and picked up a bucket of chalk full of different colors and walked out to the driveway. He set her down in the middle of the lane of the basketball court painted on his driveway. He set down the bucket next to her and then sat down himself. He laid down by her, propping himself up on his elbows. He wasn't really into drawing, but watched her do it. He tried to remember some of the things that he had seen his mom do when drawing with Ellie. His mom was always going on about proper stimulation to a child's brain. There were questions you were suppose to ask them to make their brain grow and develop, and right now Troy was trying to think of those questions. There was one thing that got to his heart, and that was Ellie. Not many knew why, but everyone could see that he doted on her a little bit. She drew what he guessed was a butterfly before getting up and moving away to a new spot. As she stood up, Troy remembered what he was supposed to ask. "Ellie, can you tell me about what you drew?" Troy asked.

"A butterfly with blue wings and two yellow eyes," Ellie said already starting another drawing.

"Can I write that down so you can tell mommy about it later when she comes home," Troy said. Their mom was really active in Ellie's life, wanting to know everything Ellie did when she wasn't there.

"Yes," Ellie said as she continued her next 'masterpiece'.

Troy grabbed a piece of black chalk from the pail and wrote down Ellie's words in perfect block letters beside it along with her name. Troy heard a chime. It was from a sound system his dad installed a couple years back. When he and his dad were out back practicing they couldn't hear the doorbell so they installed a chime out back so they could hear it. You couldn't see the front door from the driveway, so they wouldn't know if anyone was there.

Troy figured it was Chad or someone from the team, "Around back," he yelled. He knew that the person could hear him. He also knew it would take them a minute to walk around. He leaned back against the basketball pole and tossed the chalk into the bucket after he finished writing. He heard the person coming. When they came into sight they were the last person Troy expected to see come around the corner of his house, "Gabriella?" He scrambled to his feet, "What are you doing here?" He looked at Ellie still happily drawing.

"Hi, um, I know this is a little weird, I just wanted to get the history homework from Friday, yesterday, whatever," she said nervously, "And to say thank you." She looked at her hands.

"Um, ok, your welcome," Troy said unsure. "Ellie," he walked over to her, "come one we are going inside for a second."

"But I wanna finish," Ellie whined.

"You will when we come back, we are just putting it on hold for a short time. You'll get a chance to finish it in about five minutes," Troy coaxed the little girl.

"I am not walking," The little girl said stubbornly, crossing her arms.

Troy laughed at her as he picked her up, "Good thing you don't weight more than a feather," He set her on his hip again, "You know if you make a mad face for too long, your face will stay like that and you will never be happy again," he told the pouting girl. Ellie smiled, "Good girl," he said before turning to Gabriella, "Come on," he nodded at the door.

"Who are you?" Ellie asked, seeing Gabriella over Troy's shoulder.

"Gabriella, I go to school with Troy," Gabriella said, not sure how to state her relationship with Troy, or the lack of one.

"Gaberila?" Ellie tried to say it.

"Call me Gabi, it is easier for you," Gabriella said.

"Gabi! Troy, I like her name, why can't I have that name?" Ellie asked Troy as they walked up the stairs that Gabriella guessed led to his room.

"Because then you wouldn't be you, you'd be someone else," Troy said as he opened the door to his room. He set Ellie on his bed. He was now unhappy that he hadn't made his bed that morning nor was his room cleaned yet that weekend. There were random clothes everywhere along with papers and some CDs, and just basically a lot of junk. He pulled out his backpack and then the folder he kept all his history papers in. He glanced up and saw Gabriella standing awkwardly at the end of his bed.

"I was also hoping to maybe get your part of the project so I can start typing it up and get it ready to turn in next Friday," Gabriella added.

"I finished one part, but not the other. I can give you the part you finished and then get the other part to you later," Troy said. He found the homework assignment and set it down as he dug through again for his project. He pulled it out the part he finished and set it on the homework. He scrawled the homework on the top margin of the paper and then put everything away except the project. "Here," He handed her the papers.

"Ok Ellie, now we can go back outside to finish," Troy picked up the little girl again and walked back out, "You'll have to go out the back, front's locked since no one is actually in the house right now."

"Ok," Gabriella said following him out back.

"Do you want to draw with us?" Ellie asked her.

"Ellie," Troy warned. He couldn't decide if he wanted Gabriella to stay or go. He set Ellie back down in front of her drawing, "You don't have to stay, that is just Ellie," he added to Gabriella.

"It's, ok, I haven't done this is a really long time," Gabriella said smiling. Troy liked her smile. Gabriella sat next to Ellie on one side and picked up a piece of chalk and started to draw. Troy watched her interact with his sister for a moment before coming over and kneeling on Ellie's other side. Troy really didn't like to draw by the fact that he was bad at it, but he picked up a piece of chalk anyways and started to. He really didn't know what he was sketching, he was just drawing. When he finished, he decided it looked like a dragon. He grabbed the black chalk again and wrote that next to his drawing with his name.

"And what is this one Ellie?" Troy asked.

"A pretty flower with pink leaves," Ellie said adding some finishing touches. Troy leaned forward on his knees and braced himself on his left hand as he used his right to write her words above her drawing in those perfect block letters. Gabriella mentally cursed herself as she saw the muscles in his arms work and noticed that as he leaned forward, his shirt came up to expose the top few inches of his boxers and some of his tanned back. She quickly looked down at what she had drawn.

"Ellie, would you like to sign you name underneath?" Troy asked offering the piece of chalk to her.

"Yes," Ellie took the chalk from him and sloppily wrote her name under the picture. "Your turn Gabi," Ellie offered the chalk to Gabriella after she finished.

"Ok," Gabriella said unsure, but she took the chalk. She guessed that she drew a sun and she wrote that next to the drawing in block lettering like Troy, only less perfect and elegant.

"And your name," Ellie reminded. Gabriella looked at Troy, who nodded. She signed her name quickly underneath.

"Ok, I think it is time for me to go," Gabriella said standing up.

"Do you have to?" Ellie complained.

"Ellie," Troy said in a warning tone.

"But I don't want her to go!" Ellie started to throw a temper tantrum.

Troy went red with embarrassment. "Eleanor Belle," Troy picked her up and she continued to squirm. Her arms were flailing and one fist came in contact with Troy's head. Troy grabbed both of her wrists out of the air. "Ellie," Troy battled her for control for a moment, "Ellie, don't hit, it isn't nice. This little temper tantrum says that it is time for Gabriella to leave since you can't seem to control yourself. And I think that it is time for a time out." Troy forgot about Gabriella as he took Ellie inside. He turned a chair to face a wall and set Ellie in it. "Stay there without saying a word until the timer goes off," Troy told her. He went to the microwave and set a silent timer for four minutes. He then remembered Gabriella and he went to see if she was still out back. She was standing uncomfortably about the free throw line, looking around. "I am very unhappy with Ellie for that little outburst, and I am embarrassed that you had to see it," he said.

"Wouldn't it be easier to just say sorry rather than that long spiel?" Gabriella asked.

"For most people it would be but for me, no. Sorry without a reason is worthless anyways. And that would be my reason," Troy said.

"That is true," Gabriella nodded.

"You should go before Ellie gets sprung, she's going to come looking for you," Troy said.

"Yeah, ok, bye Troy," Gabriella said and she walked away.

"Are we meeting before school Monday?" Troy called out.

"Yes," Gabriella turned to look at him. He seemed to hesitate, but he put up a small wave. Gabriella returned it and walked away.

Troy went back inside and saw Ellie still in her chair. He checked the timer and saw she had a little less than two minutes left. He didn't pay attention to her as he went about the kitchen getting a glass of water for himself and he filled a sippy cup for her, but left it on the counter for until her time out was over. He then started to fill up ten water bottles for later that day. On Saturdays rather than having a traditional practice, Troy led his team on a five mile jog around town for conditioning.

His parents returned not long after Ellie got out of time out. Jenny talked to Ellie about her drawings on the driveway so she wouldn't notice Troy and Jack bringing in bags of gifts into the house and up to their parents room. As Jack was getting Ellie ready in the car, Jenny stopped Troy, "Sweetie, who is Gabriella?"

"What?" Troy said stupidly as he hadn't been paying attention.

"Gabriella, outside on the drive, who is she?" His mother repeated, motioning to the driveway.

"Oh, just a girl from school, she's my partner for a history project, she was coming to get what I had and the homework she missed Friday," Troy said nonchalantly.

"And you wanna give me the details behind Ellie's time out?"

"After I gave Gabriella the papers she needed, Ellie being Ellie invite her to stay and draw. Gabriella is too nice to say no. After we finished, Gabriella said she had to leave, and Ellie threw a tantrum. I gave Ellie a four minute time out like you do and sent Gabriella home before Ellie's time was done," Troy explained.

"And the timeout was all you did?" Jenny asked.

"Mom, I can't believe you are asking that, yes, time out was all."

"Your dad told me about you getting in fights at school."

"The one a week ago was stupid and I mad that I did it, but the thing Friday was for a good reason."

"Even for a good reason, fighting is not good."

"Mom, the guy was forcing himself upon a girl, I had to do something."

"I just don't want you to grow up to be a violent person."

Jack came out at that moment, stopping Troy from saying something, "Are we all ready?" Jack asked.

"I think so, Troy we'll be back around eight, there is leftovers in the fridge or a ten on the side table by the door if you want to get something for yourself. And maybe try and straighten out your room some too today," Jenny said and they were gone.

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**AN: Yes that is longer than just the first chapter. Now the next chapter will be like the second half of this chapter. If I put it all together, it would be really, really long and take me forever to type. So I am cutting it here and will work on the next chapter for the next few days. It is a longer chapter too chapter so it will take just a few days to do. Please leave me a review telling me what you think.**


	6. Layups

**AN: Thank you to everyone who reviewed for me. Hope you were able to deal with the wait. Here is the next chapter; it is pretty much the second half of the previous chapter.**

Chapter 6

Troy laid around the house bored until his teammates showed up for Saturday conditioning. They stretched in his front yard. "Ok, boys, you know the drill by now. As long as you stay with me and not stop or slow down too much, and you'll have water waiting for you when we get back here," Troy pumped up his team for another minute before taking off down the sidewalk. He stepped into a good pace as he reached the end of his block. He continued on down a few more blocks before turning and heading down a main street. He turned again and went past the school. There were a few cars there, probably a little league basketball game or practice for some other sport. He continued down the street until he came to the library and he turned and headed down a side road. Unless you had been down this road before, you would never guess that it came not too far from Troy's house. It turned and coiled and was a really twisty street. It came out about five blocks from Troy's house. He went away from his house a block before turning towards and finally coming back up a block to the street where his house lay. He jogged down a few houses before collapsing in his front yard. None of his teammates were too far behind him. They all sprawled out on his front yard and driveway. Players started to peel off shirts and shoes in efforts to cool down. After a minute of regaining his breath, Troy went up to his house and grabbed the spare key and unlocked the front door. He went to the kitchen and grabbed ten water bottles out of the refrigerator and took them out to his teammates. Each bottle was empty with in ten minutes. Slowly the players started to drift away back home. Troy collected all the bottles and put them by the sink to be washed.

He peeled off his shirt, drenched in sweat, and threw it in the laundry room. He needed a cold shower. He kicked off his shoes in his room and peeled off his socks and left them there too. He slipped on the bathroom tile from his sweaty feet and caught himself before his head clashed with the floor. The tile felt cool beneath his hands he laid down on the bathroom floor, soaking in the coldness of the bathroom tile. He closed his eyes and took a deep breath. He heard the air conditioning kick on and cold air burst through the vents, feeling good on his skin. He stayed there on the floor for a while moving every so often to find a cool piece of tile. He was in a slight doze when he heard the doorbell ring. He figured it was one of his teammates either forgetting something or a neighbor wanting to talk to his parents. His neighbors were kinda creepy dropping by every once in a while to just chat and to bring a casserole or cake. And none of his neighbors could cook either so he tried to stay away from anything they brought over. The doorbell rang once more pulling him out of his thoughts. He got up lazily and made little effort to get to the door. He opened the door and saw just about the last person he expected to see there. Gabriella, she looked at him, blushed and then her eyes hit the roof's overhang. The hot air hit Troy's skin and he remembered his lack of clothing. "Come in, hold on just a sec," He retreated to the upstairs and grabbed a shirt. She would have to deal with his smell since he had yet to take a shower. Hopefully it would speed up what ever she was doing here. But he had to have some form of kindness as he went into the bathroom and grabbed his deodorant. Not that it would do much good, he applied some nonetheless. He walked downstairs and she was awkwardly sitting on his couch. "What are you doing back here?" He tried not to sound rude or aggressive.

"Your project, it was unfinished. When I was typing, it just came to an end in the middle of sentence on the word 'they' and I didn't know if you gave me the wrong part, or if you are missing a page, even thought it stops in the middle of the back of the page," Gabriella said quite quickly, still mildly embarrassed. She handed him the papers and he looked at them. They ended just like she said in the middle of the page on the word 'they'.

"Huh, I know I finished it," Troy said, "Come one," He motioned for her to follow him up to his room. He saw her make a funny face at the smell of his room, not that he really blamed her. Troy fished though his history folder again. He pulled out the other half of his project and handed it to her so she could see that it too was unfinished. A light bulb clicked on in his head as he remembered what had happened. He pulled out his math folder and looked through it before finding the right piece of paper. He handed it to her as he said; "I got an idea in math and started writing and ended up finishing it. It never made it's way to my history stuff. First sentence should be about the same as the last one on the other piece of paper."

"Ok, thanks," Gabriella compared the two, "here, you can finish this one," she handed him back the other part of his project that was still unfinished.

"I plan on it," Troy nodded.

"Maybe you could type it up and email it to me," Gabriella wasn't sure if she was pushing her luck just yet.

"Uh, yeah, sure, write it at the top," He handed her the paper and a pen.

Gabriella scribbled her email address quickly across the top. "That is a really big help, thank you," she said, "And I guess this is bye again, only without an upset little girl." Gabriella swore she saw a small twitch of a smile grace Troy's face.

"You know, if you want to, you could stay around here for a bit longer," Troy said, unsure of himself. He was both mad and happy at himself. He wasn't sure what exactly came over him, but he continued anyways, "My mom and dad took Ellie to the zoo for an early birthday present. Silence hasn't been known around this household for a very long time. Not since Ellie came along."

Gabriella couldn't believe her ears. Troy Bolton offering for her to hang out at his house. The same Troy Bolton she had shared so many arguments with over the passed few weeks. And yet, she wasn't totally repulsed by the idea either. It was the same Troy Bolton who had showed her how to shoot a free throw. Maybe she was just as insane as he was. She looked at him in the eye and saw his internal battle, "Ok," she said, "One condition."

"That is," Troy said without a clue as to what would follow.

"Teach me how to do a lay-up," Gabriella said.

Troy couldn't help breaking out into a grin now, "I think I can do that. Isn't it the next thing we are doing in gym?"

"I don't want to fail this one either. And since you help my dismal free throws," She drifted off.

"Yeah, ok, come on out back," Troy said. Gabriella set her stuff in the living room and followed him to the back yard. Troy grabbed a basketball from the garage and came back out to the small painted on court.

"Ok, I don't mean to sound rude, but tell me that you can dribble and move at the same time," Troy said.

"I mastered that Wednesday," She said.

"Such an accomplishment," Troy said sarcastically, "Anyways, do you know what I mean by the term jump stop?"

"I am guessing it means to jump to a stop," Gabriella guessed.

"Yeah, basically, just land with both feet hitting the ground at the same time, and about underneath your shoulders, not too much wider. It should look like this," Troy did a little demonstration. He dribbled a few times and then did a jump stop.

"Ok, but you don't do that when you do lay-ups," She pointed out.

"I do sometimes, but what I do without stopping, you don't have to do to pass gym, and it is easier to learn it this way, and everyone, your truly included, learned this way first too."

"Like when you were five."

"Up until I was about ten I did until I figured out on my own how to do it without stopping. And stopping can help during a game. If you have a defender right behind you and you stop and they don't expect it, they will go right on by you, giving you an open and easy shot."

"That was a lot of basketball mumbo jumbo."

"Ok, so skip and forget everything I just said, it is just easier to stop when you are first learning. Start at the three-point line, here, at a 45 degree angle to the basket, dribble down, jump stop at the block and shoot," Troy said as he moved her to the appropriate place on the three-point arc.

"Troy," she got his attention as he was about to start rambling again about what to do.

"Yeah?" He looked at her.

"Where's the block?" she asked innocently.

"That is a good question," He started to walk to it as he said, "I am just use to people knowing. It is right here," He stopped standing on a painted on square. "Just jump stop when you get to me."

"This could end up really bad," Gabriella said.

"I promise there are no cameras to catch you falling on your face or looking like an idiot, I think."

"Thanks for that vote of confidence."

"Just going to sit and talk all day Montez, or are you going to do a lay-up?"

"Just don't laugh."

"No promises."

Gabriella rolled her eyes and dribble the ball down the court at a half run and came up to where Troy was standing and jump stopped, Troy was moving out of her way as she did and then she pathetically and awkwardly shot the ball. "I told you it would be bad," she said.

"Could be more pathetic."

"Thanks," she said sarcastically, "Improve it."

"Make it more fluid, and snap the stop more. And maybe we should just work on the shot itself before adding in the actually running."

"So basically it was all bad."

"You didn't bounce the ball off your foot."

"So the shooting?"

"Yes," Troy moved behind her, "Stand here," He moved her some to the right, "And see the square up on the backboard, you want to hit the top corner that is closest to you," He said quietly into her ear, his breath was hot on her skin, "And remember the grip on the ball from the free throw? You want something that is close to that. You can't get it perfectly like that most of the time, but something similar to it is best," he positioned her hands on the ball under his, "and shoot," He guided her shot, so it was a perfect and went in with and easy swish. "Just remember how that felt."

_Like I'm going to forget that_, Gabriella thought to herself, her hands still tingling from where his had just been covering hers. He retrieved the ball and handed it to her. She tried to focus on making the shot, but he was very distracting just standing there, watching her. After she had made about five in a row Troy added a single dribble, the jump stop and then the shot. Once she got this together he had her go back to the three-point arc and had her do it all together.

This proved to be a gigantic feat for her, as she just couldn't seem to do it. Try after try didn't go in. She started to get frustrated and Troy could see it. "Ok, time for a break, frustration gets you no where expect more frustrated," Troy said.

"But I want to make it," she said.

"You will after a break and you let loose of the tension. Five minutes is all I'm taking about, for a glass of water, come on," He walked into the house and into the kitchen. She hesitated but followed him. He grabbed two glasses and put some ice and then water in them. Though Gabriella was reluctant to follow him, welcomed the drink. Five minutes and two embarrassing baby pictures on the refrigerator later they were back out on the court.

"Think about grace and fluidity in your shot. Think about it being one motion all to together rather that three different ones," Troy said from under the basket as Gabriella went back up to the three-point line.

"I'll try anything," Gabriella muttered. She took a breath and started to dribble down the court, she jump stopped and shot. The ball hit the backboard and went off to the left, still closer than her other shots. She sighed and received the ball from Troy, who was rebounding, and went back up the court again. She looked at the goal and started her lay-up. After she shot she watched the ball bounce off the backboard then off the front of the rim and falling threw the net. "Finally!" she shouted. She looked at Troy and wanted to hug him but remembered that he didn't do that.

And Troy saw this, he sighed, "Go ahead," he said in a soft voice.

"Thank you, thank you, thank you!" She said excitedly as she launched herself at him, wrapping her arms around his neck.

He caught her and awkwardly wrapped his arms around her waist, "Your welcome," he said.

"You are an awesome teacher," she said.

"I doubt that," he said letting go of her.

"I might actually pass gym because of you," She said backing up a few feet.

"You are the one actually doing the work, I'm just a bystander offering up ideas."

"I'll say ok and pretend you are right if it keeps you like this and not the Troy Bolton you are in school, I don't like him."

"I don't either sometimes," Troy said lying down in the grass behind the basketball court.

"Wait, did you just a say that you don't like who you are at school?" Gabriella asked surprised, looking at him.

"Not all the time," he said then added very quietly to himself so he wasn't even sure if she heard him say, "Or most of the time."

"Then way do you act that way?"

"I don't know, just do."

"You don't have to."

"Didn't we have an argument about this already?"

"Heated discussion."

"And the difference between the school and my house is?"

"Who you are, you are two totally different people between school and your house."

"Two halves of the same person."

"Then flip sides between home and school."

"Well I can't exactly be a jerk to my parents or Ellie."

"You don't have to be a jerk at all."

"Yeah I do."

"Says who?"

"Me."

"Why?"

"Cause I do!"

"That is worse than because I said so."

"Either one works."

"Give me a real reason why, like the ones you use instead of simply saying sorry."

Troy didn't say anything. He sat up and looked at her. He thought about it for a moment. He already knew an answer, the right answer even more, but he wanted a different one. Something else to tell her. And for it to look like he was thinking. He couldn't come up with anything quickly. He sighed and decided on the truth, "Because I am waiting for someone to yell at me, someone to call me out on being a jerk."

"And that is exactly what I did."

"I didn't want you to do it."

"You wanted Chad or a teammate to do it."

"Yeah, not the new girl."

"Then I won't anymore. I'll sit back and fit into the mold and wait for someone else to do it."

"Gabriella," Troy started.

"Good luck and goodbye Troy," Gabriella went in the house and grabbed her stuff and the papers she had been over here for and left. Troy didn't say a word. He laid back and stared at the clouds in the sky and listened to her walk away. So he was back to his dismal life of waiting. Back without a spark or something to distract him from the boring routine that was his life. He watched the clouds blow by for a really long time. When he finally started getting hungry and his stomach started making noises, he got up and went inside and got something to eat.

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**AN: And there is the end of the chapter. Some fun and sad times in it. Please leave me a review telling me what you think. I am going to work on the next few days and I hope to get it out by the weekend.**


	7. Change

AN: Thank you to all of those who reviewed, I love it! Anyways, here is the next chapter, it is not all I want it to be, but I kinda wanted it this way only I wanted it to be better than it is. Oh well, you can't always get what you want.

Chapter 7

Monday when they came back to school after that weekend Troy became almost tyrant like. He was even more moody now which added to his oppressive nature. He was mean and rude and no longer cared about anything. He sent multiple boys to the nurse's office during a scrimmage in gym before his dad sent him to the locker room to cool off and get control of himself. And he had lost most of his self control and control over his life. He yelled at people in the hallways, his friends had to stick close to keep him from coming to blows with a number of people.

His friends didn't like this Troy, and neither did anyone else. But everyone else could keep out of his way. His friends had stick by him to be his friend and to keep him from doing something stupid. They started to hate it and were aggravated by their friend, but they never let it on. They never said a word to him. They were silent suffers.

Troy and Gabriella's silent mornings in the library were so tension filled, they were often cut short as neither of them could stand it. After Troy finished his second part of the project. He typed it up and emailed it to her, and then stopped coming to the library in the morning. He gave her no warning of it, he just stopped one morning. Even some of the teachers started to notice a change in him. But none of it ever reached his dad and they kept quiet. No one ever called him out on his sudden change or moodiness or behavior. Everyone was too afraid of him.

Gabriella did exactly what she said she'd do. She stayed out of Troy's way and fit into the mold of the status quo of East High. The only contact she had with him was when working on their history project, but it was almost finished. And when it was finished, she would be almost completely out of his life. She stood on the sidelines and watched. She was the only one, besides Troy himself, who knew anything about the reasons behind his change. She heard many rumors about what happened and most of them made her laugh. Some told of alien abduction or a more evil twin. She had bumped into him once in the hallway. She issued a quick apology and disappeared into the crowd before Troy could say a word.

The one and only unaffected part of Troy's life was his home life. His parents knew nothing. Ellie was oblivious. None of them knew of the fear the students of East High had of Troy Bolton. If his parents did see a difference they attributed it to being a teenager and then promptly forgot about it.

Troy saw the fear in people's eyes and was disgusted by it, even his friends and teammates were afraid. And yet, his game never wavered, but did grow in intensity and aggressiveness. He played a little too rough sometimes, but the team never lost a game. He kept looking at his teammates waiting. Waiting for one of them to either pluck up the courage to talk to him or to break down and yell at him. But nothing ever happened. They all stayed stone silent.

Troy eventually stopped eating with them and opted for his rooftop hideaway. Gabriella stayed away from the rooftop so she wouldn't ever see him there. Troy started to push his players harder at practice, take them on longer runs each Saturday. He saw some of the younger players starting to break now. Even some of his seniors started to break. All of them were having trouble meeting Troy's demands; some were just better at hiding it than others.

"Ok, dude are you on something, how are you not wiped out?" Chad asked after one particularly tough Friday practice. Some of the boys looked at him, not able to believe he asked that.

"No I am not on something, only an idiot would do something like that. I just can do it," Troy said wondering what would follow, "And just because I don't look or act tired, doesn't mean I'm not. I just know how to hide it."

"If you are that good of an actor, try out for the musical and knock Sharpay off her pedestal," Chad said.

"It's called mental toughness, the whole mind over matter junk," Troy said fiercely.

"I just think you mental," Some guy muttered under his breath, but the whole gym heard him.

"Nice to know you guys think so highly of me," Troy said angrily. "Cause you know, I don't really care if the rest of the school thinks I am mental, but you are my guys, your are my team, and I thought you are my friends, I wish you would have a little higher image of me."

"We do, we hold you in the highest respect, you are our captain, but sometimes you are just a little out there it seems like," Chad said, "like maybe you don't have all your marbles."

"Well it is nice to know you guys think that I am insane," Troy said loudly at them, "At least I know what I want and I know what I am doing, where as you guys run around the court like you have your heads up you asses half the time. I swear it is like you have never played a game in you life before," Troy knew this was a bit of an exaggeration, but he had thought it more than once in the past few weeks.

"Well if you weren't over demanding, maybe we could do it. We are trying so hard to please you, but nothing will ever please you. You are like a bottomless pit of needs that can't be fulfilled. Nothing is ever good enough for you, it is like you are blind to all the effort we are putting into this team," Zeke spoke up.

"And you are so moody anyways, if we actually do almost live up to what you want, we can't tell so we think we are doing horrible and it is a vicious cycle that has wound us up here. We have all the respect in the world for you, but you don't act like you appreciate it and you are going to start losing it," Jason said.

"And stop acting like a jerk so much. Everyone is so scared of you at school. It is like they expect you to murder them if they do something wrong or they step in your way. You can split the crowd better than Sharpay. You are even more icy cold than her," Another teammate said, "Maybe even some of us are scared of you too." Troy was looking around the gym, just daring each of them to talk next.

"You just really need to loosen up some dude. You are so uptight, if one little thing goes wrong, you are ready to explode," Another guy said, "If you really want to make it out in the world, you are going to have to loosen up. Not every thing is going to be perfect. You got to allow some breathing room, some margin for error."

"Just stopping acting like a jerk so much and try just being a kid. I mean, we are still in high school. We don't have to worry about bills and taxes or insurance or all those things our parents take care of. We just have to learn and do a little bit of work. Try just being a kid again Troy. Play for fun and the love of the game. Eat a ton of ice cream and try not to get a brain freeze. Play a practical joke and have one played on you and just laugh. Have a water balloon fight or play a video game at the arcade. Dig up an old movie you haven't watched in five years. We are seventeen or younger guys, and that is all we should have to be," One senior said. Henry was one of the few Troy had a lot of respect for. Henry was good with words and conveying thoughts.

A silence hung over the gym; none of the guys knew how to follow that up. Troy finally broke it. "So this is your opinion of me. This low, mean, jerk who can't act his age. Well you guys deserve a thank you for telling me just what you think. It is nice to know just how much you guys despise me. I won't be seeing you tomorrow, have a nice weekend boys," Troy left the gym. Half of him was happy; his boys had finally said something to him. The other half was so caught up in the role, he was mad at them. And he hated it. He hated himself for acting the way he did. He hated his team for waiting this long to talk or rather yell at him. He hated Gabriella because she wasn't there. He knew that Monday he would say something brilliant to his teammates and then his next goal would be to start talking to Gabriella again. He hated to admit it, but he missed the occasional polite conversations they had where he was just a kid. He was just seventeen when talking to her. Like what Henry had said, he was just a kid with Gabriella, no pressure from his dad or the school. Just a guy and a girl in a conversation.

Troy leaned back in the driver's seat of his car and sighed. He had a lot of thinking about to do this weekend. He'd be a hermit up in his room all weekend. His friends had said something to him, just as he wanted. His only problem was how to respond to it. He couldn't just comeback Monday all different. He needed to change. He knew he did. He couldn't go on the way he was now. It was too hard.

He had been like this once before. He had gone moody and out of it once before his life. It had been a little different though. He wasn't mean, just really quite. It was five years ago in seventh grade. Troy closed his eyes to think. He remembered he had been really quiet. He almost never talked, and it actually started to mess with his vocal cords. He remembered his parents noticing and starting to freak out. That was a difference now; his parents knew nothing about it this time. Maybe he'd do that again and just go quiet and keep his head down and not say much. It would probably be an improvement to the student body of East High. Troy sighed and opened his eyes. He drove home. His hermit time began as he locked himself in his room. He did all his homework and just lay out on his bed. One hand rested on his stomach and the other above his head. He had flipped on the radio and just let it play into the night.

Troy wasn't sure what would come Monday morning when he went to school. One thing was for sure though; he'd avoid his friends at all costs until lunch. He would talk to them there. It would be a surprise, as he hadn't eaten in the cafeteria for at least two weeks. He didn't know what he would say yet, but he had all weekend to figure it out.

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When Monday morning came, Troy was nervous as hell, he had thought about everything that weekend. Every scenario that he could think of played across his bedroom walls. He could see it all against the blue walls. He took a deep breath before getting out of his car. He kept his head down as he walked into the school and to his locker. Most people got out of his way and he was ok with it. He bypassed his teammates and opted for getting to homeroom early. When he got there he crossed his arms over the desk and put his head on his arms. He closed his eyes. He wasn't really sleeping, but was a little dazed. He sat there silently and unable to seeing people coming into the room or the people staring at him. And he blocked out the whispers that filled conversations of what was up with Troy Bolton.

Troy stayed quiet through out the class, even passing up an excellent opportunity to butt heads with Darbus. Whispers followed him in the halls between classes of the stony quiet Troy Bolton. It spread like wildfire and the whole school after third period. When lunch was upon them, Troy packed up his stuff slowly from his class and walked at a snails pace down to the cafeteria. The lunchroom was quite loud. He was able to slip in unnoticed even with the door slamming behind him. He walked to the table all his friends were at. They looked at him as he say down, "Hello boys," he nodded. Most of them gave him a shocked greeting. "Stop staring and eat," he told them. It wasn't a viscous command or loud or rude. Just a quiet one that was more of an offering than a demand. The table stayed relatively quiet for the next few minutes.

Troy looked up at his friends as he was finishing his lunch. They were still looking at him with confused looks. "I-" he was ready to talk to them, a little begrudgingly, but ready. He started again in a low voice the boys across the table had to strain a little to hear him, "I thought about what you guys said at the end of practice Friday. And know you had a fair point about some of my behavior over the past several weeks. Not everything was fair to you guys or the school. And as I thought back on some of the things you said and some of the things I am done, I am not happy with my choices. And maybe you guys can give me a second chance, I'd still like to be your captain and friend."

"I'm not sure if it is your second, but you'll always have another chance with me," Chad said.

"Me too," Zeke said. The team soon followed with words along the same as Zeke's.

"It is much appreciated gentlemen," Troy said holding his head up a little higher to look them in the eyes.

"Now we're gentlemen," Jason joked. The table burst into laughter, even Troy shared a few laughs with them.

"So you guys are still with me?" Troy asked towards the end of lunch.

"Yeah, most definitely captain," Chad said.

"Good, cause I don't East High is ready for a not so pissed of me," Troy said, "And I don't want to go at it alone."

"That is the point of the people you call friends," one player said.

Troy loosened up throughout the rest of the day. Although some students were still a bit apprehensive, most were shocked at Troy, but welcomed him quickly. Troy had found a better place now at East High; one filled with a little less fear and a few more smiles. Although he still put on a bit of a show when Joe Robbins came into the picture. Robbins was the soccer captain and had a bad history with Troy starting from Troy's first day as a freshman. Robbins was a senior and hated Troy like all the other captains.

Troy now had his East High life back on track, sort of. Now he had only one thing on his mind: Gabriella Montez. She was needed in his life. He wasn't sure where or how she fit in, but he had a void in him without her. He needed to argue with her in front of the whole student body and then steal a funny, polite conversation with her hidden away in secret. He need her back in his life somehow, he was determined to do it.

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AN: There it is. And now looking back at it, it is much better than what I had written down in my notebook. I like this much better. I hope you like it too and will leave me a review. I don't know when my next update will be, but I am shoot for before next Tuesday just go give me some leeway because I don't know what is going on this weekend. I may do the next chapter tomorrow, I may have to wait and do it in a few day, but it won't be too long until the next update, I promise.


	8. Cycles

**AN: Thank you so much to all of you who reviewed. Here is the next chapter I promised, it is a little longer so it took me some time to finish.**

Chapter 8

The next two weeks were enjoyed by the school as they got to know this less of a jerk Troy. He still had his moments were he couldn't stop it from coming out, but they were less and far between. Yes, he had made some progress in his life. The only part that wasn't progressing was the Gabriella front. He still hadn't talked to her. The history project was long gone and they had finished the basketball unit in gym. He didn't have anywhere or reason to talk to her. But he still wanted to, he hadn't give up yet.

In gym they had moved on to kickball games. They were playing every variation and version there was it seemed like. Today was one base kickball where, you guessed it, there was one base. The base was actually a gymnastic mat spread out in the opposite corner of the gym from home plate. You could have up to five players on the base at a time. Coach Bolton was pitching and Coach Fris was keeping score. Troy's team was winning by three.

Troy was playing in the 'outfield' and Gabriella was on the team kicking. It was the start of a new inning. Chad, who had to be on the opposite team of Troy because he was Troy's only competition, was up to kick first. Coach Bolton pitched and Chad kicked it towards a group of girls. The girls squealed and let the ball roll on by. A guy Troy knew played on the JV baseball team was not far behind them grabbed the ball and threw it at Chad. It was too late, he was safe. The ball made its way back to Coach Bolton. One rule was you had to kick boy-girl, boy-girl. A girl who played basketball stepped up next. She kicked the ball up in the air. It was caught by someone Troy knew from his math class, Aaron, Troy thought his name was. A skater was up next and he kicked the ball and it bounced off the wall. Chad dashed home while the boy made his way to the base. Some guy threw the ball at Chad. It was low and Chad jumped over it. Chad got home safely and the ball was tossed back to Coach Bolton as Coach Fris put up a tally mark up next to the correct team. Chad talked to the next person up to kick.

Gabriella was the one who stepped up next. Chad told her to kick on the ground where he had. Gabriella listened to him and kicked it towards the group of girls still in a little huddle. The ball caught a little bit of air, but it didn't matter, as the girls couldn't catch. Gabriella darted across the gym to the base safely. The next guy to kick kicked it high in the air and some baseball player Troy didn't know caught it for the second out. The next girl up copied Gabriella and tried to kick it at that group of girls. The girls squealed but one of them picked it up. Gabriella was running by on her way to home and the girl pathetically threw it at her. It got caught up in Gabriella's legs and she went tumbling to the ground. Coach Fris and Bolton went over to her to see if she was all right after she didn't pick herself up.

"Troy," Coach Bolton said, "Go to the nurse for some ice for Miss Montez."

"Dad, I mean coach," Troy started.

"The faster you leave, the faster you will be back," His dad said.

"Ok," Troy hesitated but left the gym and went down to the nurse's office. He returned a few minutes later with a bag of ice. Gabriella had been moved to the edge of the gym and was lying down with her foot propped up in the air by a chair. Troy walked over to her and handed her the bag of ice. She sat up and got onto the chair she was supposed to be sitting in with her foot still propped up by another chair. She took the bag of ice and gingerly placed on her ankle.

"Thanks," she said quietly in the loud gym. The class had gone back to playing with Troy's team now up to kick.

"Welcome," Troy nodded and he went over to his team, but did take another glance at her once leaning against the wall waiting his turn to kick.

So this would seem like an improvement for Troy and Gabriella, they had finally talked, it wasn't really a conversation, but they had exchanged words. Which would be a good thing, right? Well they did start talking again. But they had regressed back so far they were yelling at each other in arguments only; you couldn't really call them conversations. But to their friends it was better than when they were ignoring each other. Their shouting matches came with stunning regularity. They'd scream at each other, then be in a cold war of shooting death glares at each other. Next they would ignore each other for a day, sometimes more, sometimes less, but on average a day. They would then be at each other's neck with a snipe or two before it turned into a full-blown shooting match again. And then the cycle would repeat, over and over again.

Troy's friends and teammates would just roll their eyes whenever they heard him start to raise his voice at her. Usually after they would hear him grumbling and complaining about her and they put up with a moody Troy until the ignorance stage came around. And Gabriella's friends did the same too. They'd listen to her complain about the 'idiot jock' until they started to ignore each other again.

Both sets of friends could see the passion that the two teens fought with. They could see a special fire in their eyes when fighting with one other rather than someone else. There was only a small spark if they ever argued with someone else and this spark didn't lead to fire. Maybe they liked fighting and arguing. No one knew besides them. But it was starting to annoy their friends. The tension was starting to get out of control.

Today they were setting up for an explosion as they made small snipes at each other. A few glares passed between them too. "Of course he didn't," came from Gabriella after Troy said he didn't do his homework in history. And there was "She always had the answer, it's like a robot," Troy sniped after Gabriella had her third consecutive right answer.

"Shut it Bolton, just because you are an idiot and don't know the answer doesn't mean we are all retarded," Gabriella snapped at him afterwards.

"Just stating a face Montez," Troy chided.

"Stop it both of you," The teacher saved a fight in their classroom. All the teachers except Coach Bolton had noticed, and luckily, neither had the principal. And it had become Montez and Bolton between the two teams, not using the others first name. The two students glared at each other the rest of the class, but said nothing aloud.

They sniped and griped about each other the rest of the day making the school happy for a day with out screaming. But it didn't last long as they were back at it the next day. Taylor had made a comment to Gabriella about the silence of the day before and Gabriella not yelling at Troy. "Bolton doesn't exist!" Gabriella had said slamming her locker.

"So it is just a figment of your imagination saying this Montez?" Troy said walking by.

"Oh please, that would be like heaven," Gabriella snapped.

"Well then I am going to make sure I stick around then, eh. Got to make sure your life is like a living hell."

"If I'm in hell I am going to be in cahoots with the devil and figure out which way of killing you looks the best."

"Oh, we have a violent one among us, you better watch out before she murders you," he taunted.

"Have a little sarcastic with your breakfast this morning Bolton."

"Maybe, but I know you had bitchy with yours."

"Yes, because I just love to add it with sugar in my coffee, you know get a nice big spoonful and stir all around, get a good mixture."

"Way to go, admitting is the first step to recovery, I won't visit you at the clinic."

"You get that from a TV show because I know you don't pay attention in class. It is no wonder you are failing."

"Nice try Darling, but I have a 'B' average."

"Cause you got your dad to pull some strings, no wonder you have never had to sit out a game."

This would go on until a bell rang or a teacher stopped them. Or sometimes one would get too frustrated and just stomp off. For this particular one, a few traded insults and frustrated yells later, Gabriella grabbed Taylor and stalked off. Troy was satisfied with his victory.

And the cycle continued as the friends put up with a moody Gabriella or Troy. The death glares were exchanged before falling into ignoring each other for a day. Snide comments were added and they were soon back at each other's throats yelling. A record was set, as the two teens seemed to linger in the ignorance stage this time on Friday. Which was a surprise since they usually ended the week with a big explosion since nothing would happen over the weekend. Taylor and company didn't know if it was Troy or something else that set Gabriella in an off mood Monday morning. It was the something else, but she didn't tell them that, so they hunkered down for a big blast.

Gabriella wasn't sure what drew her up there after she vowed not to go back, but she found herself up on the rooftop she had been in once before when she was crying. She remembered that Troy had dragged her there. And this second time she found herself there, she was ready to cry again as she curled up on the bench in a tight ball. And she let the silent tears run down her face she failed to hear someone coming. Which could only be one person, "You are in my spot," he said.

Gabriella looked up at Troy and quickly wiped off her face. She sniffled a few times before saying, "Just leave me alone Bolton. I am not in the mood to argue." She got up to leave him.

"Don't go down there and cry in public," He grabbed her arm as she passed.

"You tell me not to stay but won't let me go, what am I supposed to do? Jump off the ledge?" She yanked her arm out of his grasp and wiped off her face again, "There no tears now, and I will keep it dry until I find somewhere else ok?"

Troy watched her in her estranged state, "Montez, just stay, I will go somewhere else."

"Oh, no, don't go out of your way for me I am all ready to," Gabriella said. "You are as fickle as a damned cheerleader, stay, go, stay, go, make up your mind!"

"Stay Montez, just stay," Troy made up his mind.

Gabriella crumpled on the ground, sitting on the steps, "Get out of here Bolton, no need to see me like this, you'll just use it against me later."

"What's wrong Montez?" Troy asked sitting down next to her.

"Why do you care?" She glared at him pathetically through her tears.

"Just want to make sure you are in pristine condition for our next fight."

"Whatever happened to hating crying?"

"I don't hate it," he lied, "I just think there are better ways of expressing yourself."

Gabriella glared at him, "Yeah, right."

"It is one of the reason's I play ball. I can express myself and the all the emotions running through me."

"Ok then, how the hell am I suppose to express myself on the tenth anniversary of my father's death?"

Troy didn't say anything for a while. So now he knew the reason behind this. "Tell me about him," he finally said after thinking a while.

Gabriella looked at him and laughed, "Yeah, like I want to dredge old memories only to have you laugh at me because of how pathetic I am."

"I won't laugh, I swear. What was he like?" Troy said sincerely.

"Um," Gabriella looked at him trying to decide if he was telling the truth or not, she decide he was after a long look in his eyes, "He was really sweet and funny. I can't believe I am telling you this. But going on, he knew how to make me laugh. That is probably what I remember the most, is laughing with him. And he always kept flowers on our dining room table, no matter the season, we had flowers," tears started to weld up in her eyes again.

"Keep going," Troy bumped knees with her. She dried her eyes and then continued some more.

"And we had to drag him to church every Sunday and he'd complain the whole time we were there. But when it came to singing, he always tried to sing the loudest, and always off-key," She started to laugh, "There was this one time, he forgot the words to a hymn even though they were right in front of him, so he started making up his own. Everyone got really made at him, but my mom and I couldn't stop laughing to quiet him down or point out the words to him.

"And every Saturday he'd make breakfast, and I am talking the whole shebang: Eggs, bacon, sausage, pancakes, muffins, orange juice, toast, cold pizza sometimes was there too. But we had everything made and ate every bite of it during the course of the day so it was breakfast for breakfast and lunch and dinner. And no matter which day of the week it was, for my birthday, he'd do the same thing is small portions and then serve it to me in bed." She started to cry a bit more again. Troy didn't know what compelled him to do so, but he found himself wrapping an arm around her shoulders and pulling her in close to him. She cried for a few moments on his shoulder before starting again. "In the summer we would try and catch fireflies it seems like every night. He was just like a big child. He said if you looked close and you had the eye, you could pick out Tinker bell. He knew that I love Peter Pan and I always wished I could fly."

"Sounds cliché and stupid, but I tell Ellie, that you can fly if you believe and follow your own path and heart and not anyone else's. So it is me basically trying to tell her to be herself and not listen to anyone else. But I can't say it that way because it would cause a lot of problems and get me in trouble if I told her not to listen to anyone," Troy said in the silence.

"I like it, it is a little cliché, but it's not stupid," Gabriella said.

"Just don't tell the guys or shout it at me sometime in the hallway," Troy said.

"But it is hard, I lost my best friend when I lost my dad, and now the world seems to hate me," Gabriella said, "I lost a lot when he left."

"So work with what you do have. You just have to be a little bit more conservative with the parts you have left and work a bit harder than the rest of them."

"Them?" She asked.

"I get what your are saying. I get the whole losing of the best friend thing. Mine happened to be my cousin and next-door neighbor, Belle. She was four years older than be and I never knew why the heck she doted on me, but she did. And was one of my best opponents for one-on-one. Why she wanted to hang out with her annoying little cousin is a wonder rather than go hangout with her boyfriend or high school friends."

"What happened?" Gabriella asked.

"At sixteen she was raped by her boyfriend and ended up pregnant. Her parents couldn't kick her out; it wasn't her fault other than her bad judgment in guys. But in my family there was no way she was going to abort it and her parents didn't want another child in the house, they didn't really have a way to support it. So the only choice was adoption. But Belle was against it. She didn't want strangers raising her child. That is about when my parents got the crazy idea of adopting it and then nine months later we have Ellie. And then the night after all the adoption papers were signed. Belle went and did something crazy. The next morning my aunt comes screaming over to our door that Belle went and committed suicide. I am about twelve here, Ellie is five now so it was five years ago, and when I though of the term suicide, I was thinking basketball. And running so I have no idea what my aunt is talking about. My mom goes hysterical and my dad drags me out to the car and takes me to my grandparent's so that the adults could figure everything out. I stay there for the next few days and then I find myself looking like Johnny Cash in all black at a funeral and still didn't understand suicide in the way that they meant it. SO I thought I was an idiot until I find out that it is Belle's funeral at and I learn why in basketball they call it a suicide and where it got it's name from. And so I am quite sad about this losing my friend, and my parents freak out because I don't cry, I am not able to. So they take me to a therapist to explain the whole thing in therapist talk so I don't understand any of it. But I pretended that I understood so I didn't have to go back there and listen to the boring lady talk. And since then I have never figured out why the heck she did it," Troy still had a straight face. It was stone cold and detached, it was doubtful he had any feeling at all.

Gabriella didn't know what to say to that, "Looks like we actually have something in common Bolton, who would have thought?"

"Who would have thought we could hold a normal conversation?" Troy countered.

"We both knew we could, just not everyone else."

"Those normal conversations were a long time ago."

"I liked them," Gabriella said.

"Cause they goy you through gym class," Troy laughed.

"True, but I still liked them," she smiled.

"Well, I think I have officially cheered you up."

"Just don't tell anyone, I think we are past due for an argument."

"Wanna pick a topic?" Troy joked.

"We have lists of things to argue about, I just have to pick one seeing as I think it is my turn to start one. I just need to find a list."

"On top of figuring out how to work with the pieces you have left of your heart."

"You have to figure out how to let down the wall around yours that you so solidly built."

"Look at us being all cliché, we could write a soap opera."

"And let the Evans twins star in it, since they are so good with drama and over acting."

"I am going to leave now, you leave in a few minutes and we'll go meet up in homeroom."

"Maybe you could be late," Gabriella said.

"And get detention, no thank you, I am confident in you ability to find something to yell at me for," Troy said getting up and leaving. Gabriella got up and left a few minutes later, feeling better descending the stairs than when she had ascended them.

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**AN: And there you go, there is the next chapter. It is Tuesday like I said. I hope to finish the next chapter by Friday for my next update. Please leave me a review telling me what you think or your reaction to it or any ideas, what you liked or didn't like, or anything, whatever is fine.**


	9. Dare

AN: Thank you to everyone who reviewed for me. It seems that it always comes down to the day I said I'd update by that I actually find time to type. This chapter is a little bit shorter than the others, but not extremely short.

Chapter 9

Troy and Gabriella continued to fight and cycle like normal, only now they were filled with more fiery passion than before. And in between some of the glares and snipes were glances with the complete opposite effect. A small smile or a knowing look dared to pass between them when no one else would notice. Their eyes lit up more when they looked at each other. And even more energy built up in the ignorance stage before coming out in an ecstasy of colors in a fight.

But they kept everything subtle enough that their friends didn't notice. Only Troy and Gabriella could see the difference. And not only see it, but they could feel it. They could feel the heat of battle and the sparks of lightning in a glare. They could feel the tension building ever stronger in the ignorance stage, always ready for the next explosion to release it.

And secretly, in between the fire works were polite conversations on the rooftop that only they knew about, sprinkled in randomly if they ever met up there. Like the one they were having right now. Gabriella was sitting sideways on the bench with one leg bent so the connecting foot was on the bench and the elbow on the same side was resting on the back of the bench. Troy was sitting on the ground, leaning against the railing with his knees bent in the air.

"We should totally pull one of those!" Gabriella said excitedly.

"Get a bunch of people from different groups and make them sit in the library for eight hours and see what happens," Troy nodded in agreement.

"And Darbus would be the mean teacher. I don't know who would be what."

"Well I think I would be the jock. You or Taylor would be the brain. Sharpay is no doubt the princess. Ian Penning is the criminal, and Gecko our crazy."

"Who's Gecko?"

"You don't know Gecko? He's hilarious, and really smart, but about stuff that you won't learn until college. He can confuse the hell out of you talking about how I know and can prove I exist but you can't prove anyone else exists. And it was all this other stuff that went with it something about clouds and aliens and dreams. And I've heard him talk about quantum physics that I totally didn't get, something about a photon and a mirror and I don't have a clue as to what he was talking about but everyone says he's crazy."

"He sounds like a brain."

"It's crazy too. He has his own like philosophy of screwing the government and how the little people are something, you just have to get him talking, sit back and listen. You won't get half of it, but it is fun to listen to."

"So why is he called Gecko?"

"It's something to do with a club or a band or something he is in. His real name is like Greg or something."

"I'll have to find him and get him talking, and you just said something three times is like one sentence."

"There were two sentences in there."

"So who is Ian Penning?"

"You know the fire drill we had two weeks ago? That was him. And the day with the messed up bell system and the bells went off randomly at wrong times, that was him too."

"Let's hope I never run into him."

"He's worse than jerk me."

"I don't know about that, jerk you was pretty bad."

"Trust me when I say he is a lot worse."

"Class 'A' ass?"

"Class 'A' double plus ass."

"So you seem to know everyone in the school."

"It seems that way."

"Then what can you tell me of Steven Richards?"

"Captain of the swim team, big time underage drinker, druggie, smoker, why?"

"He asked me out and I didn't even know his name, I had to ask Taylor to know."

"All the varsity captains of teams are asses, myself included. But maybe excluding the golf captain, not that anyone knows who it is if they even have a captain."

"David Halls, he's in my Chem. class," Gabriella said.

"Ok, most people don't."

"He's a smart-ass if it counts. He thinks he knows everything, but doesn't. Every time he gets an answer wrong he makes a sarcastic comment."

"Maybe I was wrong."

"First step to becoming less of an ass."

"What are you telling Richards?"

"No, I don't know him and I don't think I can take it."

"Are you talking about that broken heart of yours? You know you have to open up to someone sometime."

"I just don't know if I can. I am protective of it. I mean I would like to, I want to, I just don't think I can."

"Then I dare you to," Troy said, "So I am stuck in little kid mode and I am daring you to do it. I dare you let yourself feel for someone like never before. I dare you to maybe actually need someone more that anyone else. I dare you to want to be with someone. I dare you to let someone know you like only you know yourself. I dare you to let someone in and not care or think twice about it. I dare you to do something for you and not care about what happens or what the consequences are. I dare you let someone grasp and hold onto a chunk of that broken heart of your and not fight them for it."

"Well I don't know if I can do that," She said looking at the ground.

"Then there is no further use for me here," He said getting up and dusting himself off, "Tell me if you ever complete it," he walked away down to the jungle they called East High.

"I'll try," she said to the air after he had gone. She sat there thinking a while about what he said.

Could she really do that? She hadn't let anyone in a long time. At all her previous schools she had hidden behind her books and academics so no one would try to do that. And at East high it had been relatively the same. Everyone else just skirted around the edge. Taylor was the closest of her friends having taken in one step from the outside to the inside. But it was just a baby one, she wasn't too much more closer than all the others.

Of course there was Troy. He had taken a rather gigantic leap in. They'd both let each other in some. She had told him about her dad, a first for anyone. And he had let her in, telling her of Belle and Ellie. She wondered how many other knew that fact. She bet Chad knew and many some other people from the team like Jason or Zeke did. Yes, she had let him take steps inward with the free throws and lay-ups. He's let her in as she called him a jerk and argued with him. And if she thought about it, with every argument they had, he stepped a bit closer to her heart. And she knew that with every argument, she took down one of those bricks he had enclosed his heart with. So what now?

----------------

"You thought about my dare any?" He asked her in the parking lot the next morning.

"Just a little bit. It happens to be really hard for me. But I am trying to find a person that wouldn't make it so hard. But that itself is rather hard as every guy in this school is either a push-over or an ass."

"Very true, good luck with it."

"Should we start an argument so this doesn't look as weird?"

"It was MY parking spot!" He said loudly with a small nod.

"I didn't see your name on it," She said just as loudly.

"I park there everyday!" He shouted, stopping outside the door to the school.

"Then get here earlier!" She stopped too.

"This is early to me!"

"Not to everyone else! Not all of us need hours to primp!"

"I don't PRIMP!" Troy shouted, "I'm not a conceited bitch like you who I am sure spend many hours vainly in front of the mirror!"

"I am not VAIN!" Gabriella yelled.

"Keep telling yourself that."

"Oh yes, because you as the self-proclaimed basketball king don't have an ego at all!"

"I am the one who led my team to the championships and won it!"

"I doubt you could have done that all on your own."

"I made the game winning basket."

"Just one of fifty."

"You don't know anything about the game!"

"I know that there are five players from each team on the court, not just one!"

Troy let out a frustrated yell and walked off. He couldn't come up with anything and was about ready to laugh at their petty argument. Gabriella had it easy, as she was able to smile with her 'victory' as Troy tried to act moody. He wasn't pulling so he went up to the rooftop to get in the mindset and then came back down when he was sufficiently moody.

He had often wondered how Gabriella was coming with his dare. He had no clue as to where it had come from. But they had been talking about childhood and all the good movies and TV shows from back then. He had to be in that little kid thought process. Because when he was a kid if you wanted someone to do something, you dared them to do it. They couldn't back out and not do it with out looking chicken. So he had dared her to do it. He found it a bit childish now, but he couldn't take it back and he wanted to see what she would do with it.

He sighed and walked through the door to his next class. He glared at Gabriella a few times that day and they shared one knowing look before they fell into the ignorance stage for the weekend.

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AN: See I told you it was shorter. Right now I am at my grandparents house for a week, which is a good thing for you because I usually have a lot of time to type late at night around midnight or so. I might type up the next chapter tonight or it may be tomorrow night. Either way, the next chapter will be done really soon in the next day or two. Please leave me a review tell me what you think, it is very much appreciated.


	10. Completion

**AN: Thank you to all of you who reviewed for me, I love hearing from you. Here is the chapter I think you have all been waiting for; I hope it lives up to your expectations, but it isn't terribly long so hopefully it won't affect your judgment.**

Chapter 10

Gabriella took a deep breath before knocking on the door in front of her. She was nervous like she had never been before. The door that was opening in front of her was the front door to the Bolton household. The woman who answered the door had a resemblance to the boy whom Gabriella had spent so much time arguing with. "Hi," Gabriella said, "Is Troy around by chance?"

"Yeah, he's around back practicing, I can take you out there," The woman said smiling, taking a step back.

"I'll actually just walk around," Gabriella smiled. She didn't want any recognition from today. Ellie could be one to do it, and when walking back, questions could arise from the mother, not to mention the father who surely knew who she was.

"Um, ok, it is just around to the right," Mrs. Bolton said pointing.

Gabriella nodded and stepped off the porch. She prayed silently as she walked that Troy would be out back alone. She walked to the right and back to a place she had been to previously so many weeks ago. Nervousness ran through her body from her toes to her head to the tips of her fingers as she took steps towards the boy shooting baskets. Or rather the boy making baskets, he never seemed to miss. He never noticed her as he continued to shoot. She gulped before making her presence known, "Troy," she said quietly.

He made another basket before turning around to look at her. "Gabriella?" surprise filled his features.

"Hi," she smiled nervously.

"What are you doing here?" He asked her.

"That is a very good question. I really don't know what I am doing. I was just kinda around and saw your house and now here I am looking foolish."

"You don't look foolish, I am just surprised."

"Yeah, you and me both."

"So what now?"

"I really don't know that thought never crossed my mind until just about five seconds before now."

"How are you coming on my dare?" he said idly trying to make some small talk.

"It's coming along, slowly but surely, you know. Nothing was ever going to be fast with it. I think that I finally found the right guy. Now it is the whole thing of letting him know. Which is proving to be quite a feat for me, like the lay-ups."

"That's good," he said scratching the back of his neck, "Do I know the guy?"

"Don't you know everyone Mr. Popular?"

"Are you trying to distract me?"

"Did it work?"

"I'm pretty sure not."

"Then I wasn't."

"Do I hate the guy?"

"I'm pretty sure not," she mimicked him.

"Do I like the guy?"

"Didn't know you swung that way?"

"Shut up."

"I don't doubt that you do."

"Will I get a name out of all this?"

"Nope."

"Why not?"

"Because I don't want you to know."

"Again why not?"

"I don't want to know what you think or say."

"I won't be judgmental, promise."

"Troy Bolton makes promises?"

"Maybe just this once, just don't tell anyone."

"Well I promise to do that."

"You are evading my question again."

"I thought you wouldn't notice."

"You thought wrong. Just tell me."

"No, I can't, I'm sorry."

"Ok," he said with obvious disappointment.

"You want me to go now?"

"Nah, stay around, see if you can still do it," He offered her the basketball in his hands.

"I doubt that I can." She said as she took the ball. She lined up on the free throw line and tried to call back everything he had once told her. She looked at her grip on the ball and quickly corrected it. She lined up with the basket and bent her knees. She took a shot. It bounced off the backboard and then the rim and rattled out.

"Close, I think you still have it," he said, retrieving the ball.

"It took a second to remember everything, but most of it came back."

"Troy!" Came a shout from the porch. His mother appeared there milliseconds later. "Would you and your friend like some lunch?"

"Yeah, sure mom," Troy said trying hard not to laugh. Gabriella had given up and succumbed to the laughter that made her sides hurt. After his mother disappeared inside, Troy gave in too and laughed with her.

"I can't believe your mom thinks we are friends?" Gabriella forced out through her dying laughs.

"Let's just drop the whole shouting and become best chums," he said through his laughter as it started to ebb away.

"Rule the school, attend college together, move in side by side house, name children after each other, just imagine the good life."

"What a sweet dream, come on, my mother is probably waiting for us," Troy said. HE put up the ball and led her inside to the kitchen.

Mrs. Bolton was serving Ellie a grilled cheese sandwich with a small handful of chips on the plate too. "Would you two like a sandwich too?" She offered.

"Yeah, sure mom," Troy said taking his seat at the table. He nodded at a chair and Gabriella sat down in it.

"Do I know you/" Ellie looked at her suspiciously.

"Um, maybe, you will just have to think about it yourself. Then maybe you will figure it out," Gabriella said, not ready to give up her identity yet. She looked at Troy for help, but he was trying to hold in another round of laughter.

"What would you kids like to drink?" Mrs. Bolton asked.

"Water mom, I can get it," Troy said getting up, "Um?" He turned to Gabriella. He wasn't going to say her name understanding her want for not to be known.

"Water is fine," she said.

"Don't you even know the poor girls name?" Mrs. Bolton scolded her son.

"I do, I know her name," Troy defended himself as he grabbed a couple of glasses. He put some ice and then water into them. He set them on the table in front of the places he and Gabriella were sitting.

"What kind of chips would you like honey?" Mrs. Bolton asked.

"Whatever is fine Mrs. Bolton," Gabriella said.

"It's Jenny dear, and how about these?" She said placing a bag on the table.

"It's fine," Gabriella smiled at the woman.

"Here, you go," she set two plates down, one in front of each teenager.

Troy heaped a gracious amount of chips onto his plate. Gabriella expected nothing less from him and waited until after he had finished to put a much smaller pile on her own plate.

Gabriella was nervous of what would happen after they finished the meal. They cleared their plates and rinsed out their glasses. "You wanna come up to my room?" Troy asked her with a nod in the general direction.

"Um, ok sure," she said and they started out of the room.

"Keep the door partway open," Jenny called after them.

"Ok mom," Troy said from the stairs.

"Make you bed this time?" Gabriella teased him in the hallway.

"Hey, I was woken up early that day to baby-sit I wasn't fully awake there for a while."

"Cause that is what happens when you sleep."

"Shut up," He said pushing open the door and allowed her to enter first before entering himself. He made a show of leaving the door slightly open and Gabriella laughed at his antics. "It's partway open," he said. "It's not like we are coming up here to make out or something."

"It would confuse the hell out of our friends."

"Are you saying they would walk in?"

"No, I was just saying, ug," she stuttered.

"It's ok, I was just kidding, I got it."

Gabriella had settled herself on a chair by his desk. She threw a pencil at him. He caught it from his position on the bed. One side of his bed was against a wall, so he was backed against the wall, leaning on it. He caught the pencil and tossed it on his nightstand. "What is up with you throwing pencils at me? That is the fourth one this week."

"If we were in each others positions, it would be a pillow, besides it doesn't matter since you caught it."

"True, but that was out of necessity and experience. That one Wednesday really hurt."

"Go have your mommy kiss it and make it all better."

"Never done that."

"Never?" She looked at him a little shocked.

"Nope, I was a tough little boy"

"And now?"

"I am not a little boy anymore."

"Well..."

"You want me to throw a pillow at you?"

"I am just saying that you have been known on occasion to used such phrases as 'because I said so' and other quite similar," she dodged a pillow, "I am just stating a fact."

"Fact my ass."

"Swearing with a little girl in the house? Is that a smart idea?"

"Probably not," he said.

A silence fell between them.

"God, it's killing me," Troy said suddenly.

"What?" Gabriella asked confused.

"The guy, trying to figure out the guy."

"What guy? Oh, you mean my dare guy."

"Yeah, I can't figure it out, give me a clue."

"I like him."

"An actual clue."

"He's," She stopped to think, "He's unique."

"That is not a clue, I want a different one."

"So picky, ok, he's I guess you don't want me to say he's beautiful, um, let me think, he's, he's got an energy about him that I really like."

"Your clues suck."

"Thank you."

"You can't give me a better clue?" He scooted to the edge of the bed and leaned his elbow on his knees.

"Not with out giving it away."

"It is going to bug me until I know."

"You'll know soon enough, hopefully."

"You can't like show me a picture and block out the face or something?"

"I don't have a picture pf him."

"That's to bad," he looked at her, something was off with her. She wouldn't look at him. "You are a liar, I can see it in your face."

"Ok, well it's not really a picture of him," she said guiltily.

"How can it not really be a picture? It either is or it isn't, there is no in between."

"There kinda is," She said.

"How then, show me."

"Everything is telling me not to," she said digging through her purse until she found what she was looking for. She pulled out a pale pink frame. She set down her purse and got up and handed it to him, face down.

He turned it up, it wasn't what he expected, "Gabriella, this is a mirror," he said as she stood in front of him.

"I know," She said as she turned pink.

It then clicked with him. He was supposed to see himself. He was the guy. He dropped the mirror next to him on the bed as he stood up and kissed her. She was taken back by this for a moment, but then started to react. And relax under his grip.

Her eyes were squeezed shut as her arms snaked up to his neck. His hands moved form her arms and ran up and down her sides before settling on her hips. He pulled her closer to him. He was quickly losing oxygen, but couldn't make himself pull away as he knew reality would come back when he did. The need for air became too overwhelming and he had to let go of her lips. His forehead leaned against hers as he looked at her still closed eyelids. She didn't give him much time to regain his breath before she kissed him. She wasn't ready for reality yet either.

After coming apart for a second time, she opened her eyes to look in his, "So I am the guy," he broke the ice.

"Yeah," she said embarrassed, looking away.

"Hey, look at me," he whispered, turning her face with his hand, "If I answered my own dare, you'd be the girl."

"Really?" she looked at him with surprised, but still happiness slowly started to form inside of her.

"Yeah, you tore down that wall around my broken heart."

"And you grabbed some of mine and smoothed out the edges."

"Look at us being all cliché again."

"I completed the dare of letting someone in, I just don't really know what the guy thinks."

"Trust me when I say that he really likes you."

"Did you just refer to yourself in third person?"

"Yeah," he laughed.

"It's cute," she smiled.

"Don't call me cute."

"I can if I want to, you are undeniably cute."

"Gabriella?"

"Yeah?" He attention caught by the use of her name.

"Did you mean what you said earlier with the clues?"

"I wouldn't have said them other wise."

"Ok, so then I have a question for you."

"I think that I will have an answer for you then."

"Would you do me the honors of being my girlfriend?"

"And that answer is yes, absolutely yes."

"I thin k I like that answer," he smiled a true smile. It wasn't as rare as it use to be, but the ones of this magnitude were still quite rare for Troy Bolton.

"So what are we going to do at school? Everyone thinks we hate each other."

"Let them think what they want."

"Troy!"

"Well I say that we work at being friends at school and then maybe find a time for the truth later. I have never really cared for PDAs or anything all that lovey-dovey. I am just sort of a private guy. I can tell you now that I am not that good at showing that I care. I can feel it, but I can't express it. I hope you still like me after all that."

"I still do."

"That is a very good thing."

"And I am not really into showing either, I am a private sort of girl too. So I get that aspect."

"I don't know how much people will notice but start at friends first, then I can be around you like I want to be. Maybe somewhere down the line it will be more, but not now or in the near future. Maybe make up something about unintentionally meeting this weekend and working out a few of our differences and problems. And we are tip-toeing to and about the line of friends."

"I like it, but we can still argue right? I like that. It does something magnificent to your eyes, they light up and are just stunning."

"I like arguing with you too, you know. Which is why I've put up with you for so long."

She slapped him in the chest, "Thank s lot."

"And that reminds me that I still don't say thank you a lot or I'm sorry. It is just something I can't do."

"I know, I've seen it. I've seen you tell Chad that you are sorry with just a look. You may not know it, but you have really expressive eyes that tell everything you can't say. And a look is worth just as much or more than a word."

"Good, because you just may get that look a lot."

"Think you are going to screw up a lot?"

"Oh, I know I will."

"What happened to all your confidence?"

"Still here, just preparing you some."

"I am well prepared."

"Good, me too," he said before leaning down and kissing her once more.

-------------------

**AN: Ok, it turned out longer than I thought it was. Please, leave me a review telling me what you think. I hope this chapter lived up to everything you thought it would and should be. I think that I did pretty well on it and maybe served it justice, but only you can tell me if I did. I hope to update again tomorrow night, late again for me. It is almost 1 AM where I am. The next one will probably be around the same time.**


	11. Secret

**AN: Thank you to all of you who reviewed, it really brightened my day. I am glad so many of you were excited over them getting together, I hope that I don't ruin the good thing in this chapter simply because I am not all that great of a romance writer. And I have to unfortunately inform you that updates may take a little longer since I am at the end of what I have written on paper, I never actually finished this chapter in my notebook so near the end it will become whatever comes out of my head, and the next few chapter will be too until I finish the story. That's just a heads up for you if you care to read this all.**

Chapter 11

The first thing that Troy and Gabriella changed in their school lives was calling each other by their first name again. Their friends found this a little weird, but the couple handed them identical half lies about unintentionally meeting over the weekend and working out a few of their differences and problems. They told their friends that the other annoyed them, but they didn't hate them anymore. But in all truth, they had never hated each other; it was just perceived that they did.

The two lovers kept frequent escapes up to the rooftop. This is when they really got to know each other. They got to be jus a guy and a girl talking and slowly falling in love. They were just two teenagers and they couldn't be happier.

This is when Gabriella really got to know Troy, the guy behind the basketball jock. He was extremely funny and kept her in stitches of laughter. She complained to him afterwards of her sides and cheeks hurting from laughing so much, but he never backed off the humor. And Gabriella didn't mind, she kept smiling, never happier in her life.

Troy got under the layers of Gabriella to the parts she tried to keep hidden from the rest of the world. She loved to sing and would for him often, she had an amazing voice, she was just scared to share it with everyone. She said she always wanted to skydive sometime, but she was too scared to try. She had a graceful air about her, and could be really graceful sometimes, but others she was dead clumsy, tripping over dust.

They had a mutual love of dogs and want to keep their inner child alive. Sometimes at night they would meet at a park by her house and just be five-years-old again. Those were some of the most beloved times shared by the two new, young lovers. Gabriella loved piggyback rides, which Troy was always willing to give.

Down in the jungle of school they still kept their fiery arguments. But for every argument they had a civil conversation too in front of the school. Slowly it went from a one-to-one ratio to a one-to-two ratio of arguments to civil conversations. The number of civil conversations continued to grew, but the arguments barely diminished, at least one every week. And the ignorance stage from before was still there, only it didn't last as long and it didn't lead to an argument. They just 'ignored' each other for a few hours before returning to a haughty civil. And through all this, their friends became so very confused.

"What is up with you and Troy?" Taylor asked Gabriella one day after Gabriella had a rather polite conversation with Troy.

"I honestly don't know, he's not that bad sometimes and others I am ready to strangle his neck," Gabriella lied to her friend. She didn't like lying, but Taylor would know in due time, at least she could hope she would.

"In January you hated each other, it is the beginning of March now, what happened?"

"Things change I guess."

"You were laughing this morning."

"He was being funny, I can't explain it to you, but it was quite hilarious."

"Whatever, I just don't understand what has happened. I use to have to tear you away from an argument so you would get detention, now I have to tear you away if I want to talk to you."

"He's not a bad person under the basketball guy image he puts out, at least not all the time. Some of the time, yes, he is an ass, but others he's remarkably funny and sort of nice in a sarcastic way."

"So what exactly are you guys, I mean do you consider him your friend? What did you guys work out the weekend weeks ago?"

"Whose fault it was the first time we bumped into each other. Why he has to be a jerk sometime and why I have to be a bitch sometime."

"You don't act like that."

"I have sometimes around him."

"But you're not like that normally."

"I know, which is what I pointed out to him. He's not always a jerk like he pointed out to me. And it was his fault."

"I guess I won't ever understand"

"Try talking to him once in a civil conversation, and believe me the first one is the hardest."

"I'll try, but I don't think he'll talk back to me. We just don't click the way you two seem to."

"Just try," Gabriella said walking away. She slipped up the stairs to the rooftop where Troy was waiting for her. When she got to the top of the stairs, he surprised her with a mind-blowing kiss, "Wow, what was that for, not that I am complaining?"

"What can I say, I miss you, I need you, I can't live without you, I may kill myself when you leave," Troy said seriously, but Gabriella could tell he was joking. His mouth twitch just barely for a second and there was a small crinkle by his eyes as he tried not to laugh. Gabriella laughed, and he soon allowed himself to too. "What held you up?"

"Taylor, you have to hold a nice conversation with her because I told her to talk to you. She doesn't understand why we can stand each other now when we couldn't months ago," Gabriella said rolling her eyes.

"Do I have to?" Troy whined like a little kid, but he really didn't care.

"Just be your normal, charming self like you are with me," Gabriella said.

"I'm charming," he perked up.

"Until now," she laughed. They settled on the bench. Troy wrapped his arm around her shoulders and she leaned her head on his shoulders, "Just play nice with her."

"I can do nice," He said, "You know sometimes if I really want to."

"Does Chad get mind-boggled by all this?"

"Yes, but he isn't as smart as Taylor so I think he has already given up hope trying to understand it all. Though I think if I have to have a conversation with Taylor, then you have to have one with Chad."

"Yeah, that will dumb me down."

"Don't be mean to my best friend, he's not that stupid."

"I'll just take your word for it rather than finding out for myself."

"So what next in our high school image makeover?"

"Beats the heck out of me."

"Ok then moving on. What are you doing tonight?"

"I'm not sure, but I think I am doing something with my wonderful boyfriend."

"Felix is in town?" Troy joked.

"Arrived yesterday," Gabriella nodded. They had an on running joke of Gabriella having a Spanish lover named Felix. While Troy had a Swiss maiden/lover named Heidi.

"Will he be meeting you in the park tonight?"

"Yeah, I think he will be."

"Sweet, ok, meet you around nine?" Troy pulled out of the joke to be serious.

"Absolutely," Gabriella nodded.

"Should I bring some hot chocolate?"

"If you want me to bring some cookies."

"Then I will bring it."

"By the swings?"

"Yes, as always," Troy nodded.

"Come on a bell is going to ring soon," Gabriella stood up pulling Troy up with her. He soon had her against the railing with a hand one either side of her body as he kiss her. It surprised her but she did welcome it, "What was that for, not that I am complaining."

"You want me to repeat what I said earlier so we can go through this whole thing again, or can I just say because I wanted to," Troy said as one of his hands moved to her face and landed on it softly.

"Just as 'because I said so'."

"Gabriella," Troy said in soft voice as he looked at her with one of those looks. Gabriella had learned to look at his eyes to express and say all that he couldn't. They sometimes told of sorrow or of happiness. Now they held something they had never before. They held deep affection, "Gabriella," he repeated.

"Shh, I know," She said in a gentle whisper. He kissed her forehead and hugged her tightly to say that he didn't want to let her go. They stayed wrapped up in this moment for a too short period of time.

They both groaned as a warning bell rang. "Maybe we could just skip it," Troy said still in he soft, smooth voice.

"I would, but you just made me stand up so there is no use skipping now that I am up."

"Let's go," Troy said taking her hand as they walked down the stairs. He dropped it as he reached the door. She walked out into East High and about twenty seconds later so did Troy.

-------------------

Later in the hallways Troy noticed Taylor talking to Chad. It stuck him as odd as he had never seen it before. They must have said some departing words as Chad walked away. Troy remembered that he had to talk to Taylor, but he would only do it if she approached him. It couldn't seem like he was expecting it or knew it was coming. He needed to change facades as Taylor hesitantly approached him.

"Hi Troy," she said

"Hello Taylor," he said with a nod.

"So…How is basketball?" She tried. She had not a clue as to what to talk to him about.

"Fine, you probably know we won the championships, but I am playin' on a rec team with a few of the guys for fun obviously, but also keep up skill and endurance," Troy answered understanding her discomfort trying to make small talk with him.

"Yeah, forgot about that," She said feeling quite stupid at that point.

"Dad's already talking about next year's season and I am ready to go insane," Troy helped her out just a little.

"Too much basketball for the jock?"

"You make it sound like a bad thing. And yes for this 'jock' for lack of a better word, there is such thing as a little too much basketball. I just want to think about spring break."

"Go to Florida and party?"

"Arizona with my parents."

"No beaches, so no bikini clad girls."

"Grand Canyon, Painted Desert, Navajo stuff."

"History stuff."

"History can be interesting."

Taylor snorted at this and laughed, "Yeah, sure."

"I've learned that the Incan did brain surgery, I think that is interesting," Troy said remembering something he had written about in one of his papers for that old history project.

"You actually pay attention in class?"

"Yeah, I do sometimes when I get really bored. But that I learned writing a paper for that project in history class."

"Some of it actually interests you?"

"Not history, but some of the physics stuff did. All the things that are happening when I am shooting a basketball. I didn't know all the stuff I was doing, I was just having fun. Now I look at it a little bit different than I did before."

"And that interested you?"

"Not the way it probably did you, but I definitely thought about it the next time I went to practice."

"You think?"

"That was a definite insult to my intelligence, but yes I think. Even better is I can count too so I know how much I am ahead by."

"And you are sarcastic."

"Yes I am, now as much as I welcome this derogatory conversation, I do actually need to be on time to my next class," Troy said and left her in the middle of the hallway.

"Did he just use the word derogatory?" Taylor asked to no one.

-------------------------

"Did you talk to Taylor?" Gabriella asked Troy later that afternoon during free period when they were on the rooftop.

"Yes I did, and I did it politely even through her belittling comments. I was a good little boy," Troy said and with a small smirk continued, "So do I get a reward?" Gabriella let out a short laugh, but leaned over and kissed him. "I think I like this reward."

"Shut up and kiss me," Gabriella said.

"Can do," Troy said pulling her closer to him. He always found something intoxicating about her kisses. They were something he was beginning to crave whenever she was around. And that made it really hard in the middle of school. But it made the time they spent together alone all the more special to him.

"You know what I want," Gabriella said breaking apart from him, "I want an argument. We are getting too sweet down there and I want to see the fire in your eyes like they use to be."

"They're not the same now?"

"They are just not the same magnitude, more a toned down fire that is under control."

"That's hard to believe as I am barely hanging onto control right now. But I am sure I can find someway to make you mad at me as long as you aren't really mad at me."

"Meet me up here five minutes after and I won't be," Gabriella said, "but wait until tomorrow so I have proper time to psyche myself into being mad at you."

"You have to psyche yourself into being mad at me?"

"It is quite hard to be mad at you after you kiss me that way you do," Gabriella said.

"What, like this?" Troy said giving her an earth-shattering kiss.

"Yes like that, now stop it," Gabriella said as she sighed rather contempt, "They make me just about as dumb as Chad."

"As much as I don't want you that stupid, I can't stop kissing you like that, I'd explode," Troy said.

"That is actually a good answer because I thrive on those kisses," Gabriella smiled, "Will you wait for me after school? I have a short quiz I have to make up from when I went to my dentist appointment yesterday."

"How long will it take?"

"Not long, it is only 15 questions, but it should give time for most of the school to clear out and the buses will have left."

"Room number?"

"152."

"That's right by the student lot, come out to my car after you finish. I'll wait for you."

"You think everyone will have cleared out by then?"

"If you answer the questions as thoroughly as you usually do."

"It is multiple choice."

"That is a rather stupid and pointless quiz. Just make sure to read all the answers and maybe more than once."

"I can do that," Gabriella said.

-------------------

**AN: Ok, so kind of an abrupt ending, I know, but that is as far as I have written in my notebook and it sort of seems like an ok place to stop. Now I have to go write on it some more so I can get the next chapter up for you tomorrow night. Please leave me a review telling me what you think even though there isn't much in this chapter. I am trying to work out in my mind how they will let the school in on everything, which may or may not be in the next chapter but it is definitely coming up.**


	12. Maybe

**AN: Thank you so much to all of you who reviewed the last chapter, it is much appreciated. Here is the next chapter, most of it is being made up on the spot meaning it probably won't be very good as it is when I write it out earlier like I unusually do, I don't get a chance to think about it and change it if I want like I do a lot of times.**

Chapter 12

Troy and Gabriella's friendship started to blossomed in the school's eyes. The friendship wasn't completely understood, but was standing quite strong. Many questioned it more and more and the days went by. Troy and Gabriella just smiled and said things change, people change. Many were sure that they were faking it. They thought that the two had gotten in too much trouble so they were now faking it to stay out of more trouble. And still others thought that it was real and accepted it and liked it. Or at least it was liked more than all the shouting. People were apprehensive around them like they were a ticking time bomb and all that had been accomplished between them would blow up and it would go back to the way it was. Back to the shouting.

If Gabriella and Troy ever did have an argument it would take two hall meetings for them to get over it. The first one they would exchange a glare and then a look of apology. Only no one could see these looks of apology, except Chad, so it confused them. The second meeting shared looks of friendliness and then the third they would talk to each other, friends once more. People didn't understand this, but accepted it like they did the friendship.

And in privacy, love was slowly blossoming for Troy and Gabriella, not that either would admit, say or think about it. They ignored it even though they could feel it. They both liked the positions they were in of just learning to fall in love again so mentioning or thinking of said love freaked them out. Neither were ready for it so they both denied it.

The only problem they ran into was trying to figure out how to let the school in on the secret they were keeping. They wanted to, they hate keeping the secret, but they didn't want explosions. So March faded into April with rain showers and still no avail on letting the school in.

"Maybe……no," Gabriella said one day on the rooftop during free period.

"Maybe….nah that wouldn't work," Troy said from his positions sprawled out on the ground. Gabriella was lying on the bench with her legs dangling over one of the arms. They were trying to brainstorm ideas, but never had any luck.

"I say were just give up," Gabriella said, "We are not getting anywhere."

"Wait, what?" Troy said slightly alarmed.

"We never have any ideas so I say we give up trying to come up with any."

"Why didn't we think of that, I don't know a few weeks ago, would have saved me a few headaches?"

"Thinking gives you headaches?"

"Frustration gives me headaches."

"Ok, so then, I say we give up trying to come up with an idea and just go with the flow. If an opportunity presents itself, we take it, but if no chance comes, we don't dwell on it."

"Good idea, why didn't we do this earlier now?"

"We thought an idea would come to us eventually, then eventually hit and we got nothing."

"Well now we do."

"I like it."

"I do too, now come here," Troy motioned to her as he looked at her. Gabriella rolled off the bench and crawled over to lie down beside him. He wrapped an arm around her shoulders as her head rested in the crook of his neck. He kissed her temple as they closed their eyes. They fell into a slight doze until a bell rang. They yawned and stretched before getting up and going down to class.

----------------------

Later that week, Troy was in a grumpy mood. He had woken up late, making him late to school, making him miss homeroom, making him miss Gabriella. He was able to see her in History and gym, but it wasn't ever the same in class as it was out of class. He hadn't had a chance to talk to her the way he wanted to, making him very frustrated. He was sitting in his second to last class of the day hoping that he would be able to see her before the day was up. He jumped out of his seat when the bell sounded and was out of the room.

He roamed the halls that were always filled with commotion. His eyes wondered for the girl he secretly called his. He didn't want to appear to be going out of his way to look for her, but he still desperately wanted to find her. He knew around the corner was her locker. But as he turned he saw that the locker stood without its user in front of it. But down the hall coming the opposite way was said user. Followed by Brad Maher, the soccer star, not captain because he was only a sophomore, but still the leading goal scorer. What was he doing following her? Troy slowed down to watch them. The guy was obviously trying to talk and flirt with her. Gabriella was trying to brush the guy off, not paying attention to him. You had to give the poor boy props for effort and not giving up, but at some point in time you have to cut your losses and just leave.

Gabriella got to her locker ignoring the boy. She spun the combo into the dial and popped open the door. She did notice the guy leaning against the locker next to her, but not the blue eyes down the hallway watching them. She put in a few books and took out one for her final class. She hesitated before deciding to stop back at her locker after school for the books she would need for homework. If she went slowly, the halls would clear and she would get a chance at finding Troy. She hadn't seen him all day outside of class and she didn't like it. She wanted to find him and see him and talk to him and kiss him, but she couldn't do that in the middle of the hallway unfortunately. She slammed her locker shut and spun the dial just to make sure it was locked. She turned around to find the annoying soccer twerp right in front of her, uncomfortably close.

She took a step back and said, "Personal space, please." He took a step closer and she inched back so she was flush against the wall. "Back up," she said still trying to be slightly polite even though there was no need to.

"You know, Gabi, mind if I call you that, no, good, I like you. You are unbelievably hot, blow all the cheerleaders away and put them to shame," Maher said.

Gabriella was ready to crawl up the walls to get away from him as he moved closer to her. She found herself being kissed by him and disgusted by it. She shoved him away and swung her hand to slap him. But he caught her wrist. She yanked it out of his grasp roughly and said, "Stay the hell away from me!" She moved to walk away from him but he grabbed her backpack.

"I'd let go of that if I were you," A new voice said in a low growl. Gabriella felt the pull on her backpack gone and Maher scampered down the hall. She looked up into some ocean eyes and knew she was safe again. Tears weld up in her eyes rolled down her face as the voice now soft and comforting said, "Shh, it's ok now," and a pair of strong arms engulfed her.

"Come on dry up you tears," Troy said. He dug through his backpack and pulled out his gym shirt he was taking home to wash. "It may smell a little, but wipe away the teardrops, nothing is going to happen now."

"Smells like you," Gabriella said quietly as she used the shirt to wipe of her face. Troy took the shirt and stuffed it back in his bag. "Thank you."

"You are welcome, you ok now?" Troy asked looking at her, "How's the wrist?" he pulled her hand towards him and looked over her wrist for a sign of bruising or injury.

"It's fine, now let go of my hand," Gabriella pulled her hand out of his grasp as Troy put on a sheepish smile. He gave her a goofy sorry look. "Now I have to go to be on time to class."

As she moved around him he caught her arm and whispered in her ear, "Meet me in the student lot after school." Gabriella nodded and moved on. Taylor, who had witnessed most of everything, quickly approached her.

"Are you ok?" She asked as they continued walking.

"Yeah, yeah, I think so, just a little shaken up, you know, doesn't happen everyday," Gabriella nodded.

"Gabriella can I ask you a question?" Taylor asked.

"Yeah, anything," Gabriella said.

"Do you like Troy?"

"What?" Gabriella turned to her alarmed.

"I mean, you guys looked pretty close back there, it is just a question."

"I don't know, I just don't know. There are times I want to strangle him, but he does things like that and gives the impression that he actually cares. And at those times, you know, maybe I do. Everything is changing, everything has changed between us. So I don't know, maybe, maybe I do. It just seems crazy, Taylor."

"Ok, I don't mean to put you on the spot you know. I was just wondering. And you know, if you do like him, it's not a bad thing."

"Ok, thank you. I am just really confused right now, but maybe I do, maybe I don't. So aren't mad at my answer."

"It is an honest answer, so no. And it is not really a bad thing, an unexpected one, but not a bad thing. Just be careful, please."

"I will," Gabriella said as they walked into their classroom.

-------------------------

While the girls were having that conversation, Troy was approached by his best friend. Chad had watched the scene unfold and came into step with Troy as they walked towards the last class of the day that they happened to share. "What's up with you dude?" Chad asked.

"I don't know," Troy said.

"What's happening, I mean it is Belle thoughts or something else?"

"I don't know. Yes, Belle did cross my mind. But maybe something else is there."

"Like do you like her?"

"No, maybe, I don't know."

"Way to give a definite answer."

"I'm just confused right now. Nothing is making sense anymore. It used to be straightforward now it is all screwed up. I have no clue what is happening."

"She's a geek dude, I don't understand first of all how you are friends with her and then this maybe stuff about liking her. What is up with you dude?"

"I know, I know it is weird we are friends. And sometimes I can't stand her, but others I swear that she is not that bad. Like maybe she gets me and understands even when I don't myself. It is all just a little confusing right now. I have no clue what is going on."

"Do you care about her with what happened or is the actually happening the thing you care about occurring."

"I don't know, neither, both, I just don't know."

"Get your head straightened out dude."

"I know, I know what you think, but things are a little different for me, they always have been. I just need to figure out a few things in life right now, like where I stand with Gabriella," Troy said as they turned into their classroom.

-------------------------

After the final bell rang, most students were rushing out the door to the to get on their bus or to just go home. All except two people who slowly made their way through the halls. These two people met in the student parking lot after most cars had left. There were only a few cars left from people who were on sports teams or had detention. Troy grabbed Gabriella as she past his car and pulled her inside. He was in the back seat with his feet hanging out the door. He pulled her in on top of him as he leaned back into a laying position. "You have no idea how much I missed you today," he said.

"Yeah I do because I am in the exact same position," Gabriella said before kissing him. "I've been waiting to do that all day and was quite pissed at Taylor for making me work with her on that thing free period. And I am mad at you mister for being late for school."

"I swear I didn't mean to be," Troy said with his look of apology.

"I know, that is why you are forgiven, just don't do it again."

"I won't, I hated today," Troy said leaning up to kiss her again.

"Ok, so confession time, after today's lets call it an incident, I told Taylor that I maybe like you. She asked me if I did and I saw it as our opportunity so I told her maybe and that I really didn't know and that I was a little confused at the moment. I hope that it is ok with you."

"Of course it is. It has to be as I told Chad basically the same thing."

"You did?"

"Yeah, so we are at maybes. We should act a little awkward around each other now. And if they ask, tell them that they made us think and made us more confused so things are awkward for us until we are unconfused ."

"That is a good idea Mr. Bolton."

"Much appreciated Miss Montez."

"Now that we have that settled, kiss me," Gabriella said leaning down. He met her halfway to begin a long make-out session.

-------------------------

**AN: Ok, so a little short, but I got where I wanted to be. Please leave me a review, and I hope to update tomorrow night again like I have. I think the next chapter will be the last one. Everything will become open to the school and that is where I have always planned on ending it, so it is unfortunately almost over. I may add an epilogue, I don't know. I have been writing on another story I will probably type up next and then also the promised sequel to my other story, which I have slowly been working on as well. Ok, that is a just a bunch of the thoughts running through my head, again, please leave me a review and thank you!**


	13. Like

**AN: Thank you to all of you who reviewed, I know that there has been a little trouble with the sight on not loading pages, saying that the chapter is not there, it is driving me insane, I hope you all are having more luck than me. So here is the last chapter before an epilogue unless I decide to do a sequel. I need some ideas for a sequel if I decide to do one so if you have any, I would be glad you hear them.**

Chapter 13

The next Monday when Troy and Gabriella they acted a little awkward around each other. Their friends knew why but they pretended that they didn't know why. "What is up with him, he's acting all funny?" Gabriella asked Taylor after the two girls were walking away from Troy. They had shared an awkward good morning before skirting around each other and walking away.

"You were acting weird too you know," Taylor said.

"I was?" Gabriella asked, "I thought I was acting normal."

"You guys were all darty eyed trying not to look at each other, are you guys having an off fight?"

"No, I didn't think so. Maybe he is mad at me and if he is, then I'll be mad at him too."

"Because that makes perfect sense."

"It does, now what else was weird with him?"

"Besides the fact that he was staring at you after you left but not when facing you?"

"He was?"

"Yes now other than that, it just seemed like he didn't want to talk to you."

"That makes me feel great."

"You wanted to know."

"But the weird thing is I don't want to talk to him either. I think I hate you. You made me think too much over the weekend."

"What, you lost me."

"The whole do you like him thing that you asked me. It has gotten me all confused."

"How?"

"Before it was just a straight no way, he was a jerk to me, how on earth could I possibly like him kinda thing. Now there is a maybe there and little voice is talking to me about all the not so bad things about me. It is like the angel and devil thing on my shoulders."

"Ok, which leads to the question, which side is the devil on and which is the angel."

"Devil is on the left, Angel on the right."

"I meant what do they stand for. Is the devil saying you like him or is the angel?"

"That is the problem. Sometimes the devil is saying that he's hot and why not like him. Others the devil is saying look at what all he's done to you, he's an asshole."

"I say you figure out what is what side before you trying to pick a side."

"I don't think that will help because I will put the side I want on the angel side so I will pick it."

"So then you have your answer."

"Yeah but what I put on the angel side keeps changing."

"Well then you are screwed."

"This little talk, so did not help."

"Then you can figure it out on your own."

"Maybe I should make a pro and con list."

"That makes you sound like Rory Gilmore."

"Maybe I won't. Can you please help me figure it out and like talk it out with me? I really value your opinion in what you think of all this."

"Ok, let's go to my house after school," Taylor said. Gabriella and Taylor walked into their homeroom and sat down in their seats. Troy gave Gabriella an odd look as she passed by.

"Dude what's up with you and her?" Chad leaned forward and whispered to Troy.

"I have no idea now. You screwed me over by asking me if I liked her," Troy whispered back

"Do you?"

"The answer used to be such an easy no, now I'm thinking about it and for every bad reason I am coming with a good one. It doesn't make any sense anymore."

"You aren't supposed to like her."

"I know that dude!" Troy said in a yelling whisper. "I just can't figure it out, and I am blaming you. Which means you have to help me figure it out."

"Fine, come to my house tonight around seven, my parents are going to some fancy dinner party."

"I want you opinion on this just keep an open mind."

"Opinions I am good at, open mindedness, not so much," Chad said as the teacher started the class.

----------------------

That day on the rooftop during free period, Gabriella and Troy were going over the plan of what they would do with their friends later that day when talking to them. "Don't seem over excited about liking me, as hard as it is, it should seem reluctant," Troy told her.

"You should be very reluctant since you aren't suppose to like me," Gabriella said.

"I know, it is going to be so hard, I want you to be mine all mine," Troy said in a joking manner.

"I know you do, who wouldn't want me?" Gabriella said in a drama queen way."

"Who has an ego now? You are always complaining about mine."

"Well, I was just having a moment, maybe step into the shoes of Sharpay and see what it is like to be hated by all but think that I am loved by all."

"Please don't do that. Don't ever change. You are the most wonderful girl I have ever met. And you have put up with me this long, I just want it to stay the same. I really like where we are at."

"I think that that may be the sweetest thing you have ever said to me."

"Look at me softening up for you."

"I was kinda diggin' the bad boy image."

"I'm not like that anymore, so you just have to settle for the good guy."

"You are so not the good guy but I'll take you anyways."

"If I am not the good guy nor the bad boy, then who am I?"

"Comic relief everyone loves more than the good guy."

"I like this role," Troy said smiling, ducking down to kiss her, "Especially if it meaning I get to kiss the pretty leading lady."

"Then you are pretty luck."

"Meet me here before school tomorrow?" Troy asked.

"Absolutely," Gabriella said before leaning over to kiss him again, "Yeah, you are really lucky I like you."

"And the same goes to you."

----------------------

That day after school at Taylor's house Gabriella was pacing in front of Taylor's bed, as Taylor was laying on it and watching her walk back and forth, "So are you going to actually talk to me and let me know what you are thinking? If not, I am not going to be much help," Taylor said.

"I know that I shouldn't like him. He is a dumb jock and a history of being a jerk, so why could I possibly like him. But yet now he is really nice and saved me Friday."

"But do a few good things make up for all the bad things he's done?" Taylor asked.

Gabriella let out a frustrated yell as she threw herself on a chair by Taylor's desk. "It shouldn't. He was so mean. But he changed, he changed for the good. And the little voice says everyone deserves a second chance. And then another voice says he's already used it."

"He has?"

"Apparently to that voice. I have too many voices inside my head, is that a bad thing? Am I insane?"

"You are not insane. What is the loudest voice?"

"They are all about the same. Taylor, what do you think?"

"I'm not the one in the panic attack."

"Which is why you are a good voice of reason."

"Well I have always seen him as a stupid, egotistic jock. But he has seemed to change over the last few months. As much as I don't understand that weird friendship between the two of you, you guys seem to click. I don't know how, but you seem to click."

"Yeah, but do we click enough to have a go at a relationship?"

"That is up to you?"

"This is insane, I don't even know what he thinks. If I decide I like him, he'll probably put off vibes that he doesn't like me and I will be harboring a secret crush. Or I'll decide that I don't like him and he will put off vibes that he does like me and then I will be back in the same position as now or I'll crush his spirit."

"Ok, so honestly do you see liking Troy as a bad thing?"

"Yes, no, maybe, if he doesn't like me back, yeah it is a bad thing."

"So you are being insecure about what the consequences will be of liking him?"

"Yeah," Gabriella said pitifully.

"Then I think that means you like him, you are just afraid of what will happen."

"Yeah, but I am not suppose to like him."

"You can't decide who you like or don't like sometimes, fate or destiny or whatever steps in if you believe in that crap."

"Taylor would you freak out and hate me if I said I like him?"

"I would be taken back by it, but you are my friend and I could never hate you. And you guys definitely do have some fireworks. I could always see it when you use to argue all the time. You both had a passion when fighting, I just never wanted to admit it."

"Ok, so then, I think I like him. But what am I to do now? I can't just walk up to him tomorrow and say hi Troy, I know we use to hate each other, but now I think I like you as in more than a friend."

"What's wrong with that?"

"He'll stare at me as he comprehends and then say I'm insane and walk away. Later he will ask me if I was kidding and I'll have to tell him I was so he won't hate me."

"So wait a day to see how he is acting towards you and then say it."

"I can't I'm too afraid. It is a big enough deal as it is figuring out that yes, I think I do like him, now I have to act upon those newly discovered feelings?"

"No you can harbor them until graduation and then never see him again unless you go to the same college."

"I can't do that, I have to do something. Maybe I should just talk to him."

"Why, big show or tiny show, they will both come out with the same result. Might as well be remembered."

"That is a good idea. Ok, so lets figure out what I can do, and we have to do it fast before I lose all my courage," Gabriella said.

-------------------------

Later that night in another house a similar conversation happened. "You can't like her," Chad said.

"I know, I know, it is just weird. Sometimes I feel like maybe I do and then I step back and think, dude that is such a stupid idea, don't do anything like that. It is weird enough as it is being friends with her, don't do anything more. But then another voice inside my head says she's actually kinda hot and she put up with you for this long."

"You have too many voices inside your head."

"I know, check me into the clinic, I am going insane. It is a bad thing right? If I was to like her, it would be a bad thing."

"Well to the school it would be, but it is all about you bro, is it bad to you?"

"Every voice inside my head is saying yes, it would be a bad thing. But one little one starts to shout no and then other voices change to say no and then they drown out one another so I am left with no answer."

"You should definitely see a psychologist."

"Would you think it to be a bad thing?"

"I can't see the basketball captain dating the Einsteinette of the school."

"Yeah, that is what I thought."

"But I can see my best friend dating the girl he is friends with even though the friendship makes no sense at all."

"Really?" Troy looked at him surprised.

"You guys always had a lot of passion fighting, maybe you are turning it into a different kind of passion now."

"Yeah, but even if I did like her, what would I do?"

"That is yours to figure out."

"I think I like her Chad," Troy said after a moment of silence. "As weird as it may seem, I think I like her."

"Ok," Chad nodded.

"Are you ok with that dude?"

"As long as you are happy and don't turn into a jerk again."

"I don't think I will, but if I start, knock some sense into me quick."

"I can do that, now enough with acting like girls, lets shoot some hoops," Chad said.

----------------------

The next morning, Taylor and Gabriella drove to school together in Gabriella's car. "Ok, I can't believe I am going to do this," Gabriella said for the umpteenth time.

"Just don't lose your nerve and at least pretend to be confident."

"Girl power, jeez reminds me of the power ranges from the nineties."

Taylor laughed, "You can do, I am behind you after what all we went through yesterday."

"Good, thank you, so no matter what I will always have one friend, right?"

"Right," Taylor said as Gabriella pulled into a parking spot.

"Do you see his car?"

"Um," Taylor and Gabriella got out and looked around, "Yeah, over there."

"Ok, I can do this, I can do this," Gabriella was psyching herself into what she was about to do.

"Ok Juliet, lets go, and if it doesn't work out, no killing yourself."

"I won't as long as you are my friend."

"I will be since this was my idea."

"Oh yeah, ok, here I go," Gabriella said as she and Taylor walked into school. It didn't take them long to find Troy talking to Chad in hushed whispers. "There he is and here I go," Gabriella looked at Taylor one last time. Taylor gave her an encouraging look.

Chad saw Gabriella coming so he took a step back. Troy turned to look at Gabriella. "Hi," he said nervously.

"Hi," She said just as nervous. She remembered that Troy didn't know the plan. She took a deep breath and looked him in the eye before grabbing his neck to pull him down and kiss him. "Please don't hate me," She said as it was over.

Troy looked at her and crashed his lips on hers again. "Please don't hate me," he said.

"What the heck happened to us?" Gabriella said awkwardly.

"I have no idea," Troy said shaking his head.

"So you aren't mad at me?"

"Gabriella do you like me?"

"Y-Yeah," She stuttered looking at the ground.

"Then I'm not mad at you. Are you mad at me?"

"Troy do you like me?"

"Yeah," he said sort of sheepishly

"Then I'm not mad at you."

"So where do we go from here?"

"I don't know, you like me, and I like you, so…" She drifted off.

"Maybe we could try a date this Friday?" Troy said hopefully.

"Ok, just one, and figure out if this is a good thing or not, or if it will even work."

"With all the arguing we've done, it may be kind of hard."

"Will you stick with me as we muddle our way through it?"

"As long as we don't get stuck," Troy said with a half smile at his joke.

"Ok, I am going to go now and start to freak out."

"Me too," Troy said and they both walked away in opposite directions towards their friends.

With the girls Gabriella was screaming, "I can't believe that just happened!"

"I can't believe you are going on a date with Troy Bolton," Taylor said.

"I know, I can't either. You have to help me out and make me look cute and then pray for me that I don't make a fool out of myself."

"And that you don't get killed by the rest of the female population at East High."

"Yeah, oh my god, I am dead in the locker room for gym, I have at least a half dozen cheerleaders in my class."

"Good luck girl, you are going to need it."

----------------------

With the boys, "I can't believe I did that!" Troy said.

"Me neither. Well at least now you have it all figured out."

"It is so unreal."

"I can hear the heart break of all the girls in the school, or at least 98 of them."

"I am going to go think ok? Now I have to figure out what to do Friday and hope I don't look like an idiot," Troy said. He nodded a goodbye to Chad and went up to the rooftop. He waited for Gabriella to show up, hoping she would remember to meet him up there. Finally he heard someone coming up the stairs. "You didn't tell me you were going to do that," he said.

"Because I didn't know either until it was one of the ideas that Taylor and I came up with after we figure out that I liked you, even though I was faking the whole confused thing."

"Yeah, did the same thing with Chad, only we didn't come up with a plan, it was up to me to figure out and I had nothing so I knew it was up to you."

"Think we looked too familiar with the kisses?"

"Nope, because if felt like the first time."

"Good. So what are we going to do Friday?"

"Catch a movie and I can do the whole fake yawn to drape my arm across your shoulders and then you can give me a look and I can fake innocence."

"You are anything but innocent Troy Bolton."

"I think we are good actors then, maybe we should try out for a play and knock Ryan and Sharpay off their ivory tower."

"You can do what ever you want, I will be on the sidelines laughing my butt off."

"Thanks," Troy laughed, but leaned down to kiss her.

-------------------------

**AN: _FINISHED!_ And there you go, they let the school in on it, but not really. I think that will be in the epilogue that they let at least their friends know. Sort of sad that is it is all over now, but I think I will be starting a new story soon. It will be called _Probably Wouldn't Be This Way_ be on the look out for it in the next few sleep. It is just passed one am where I am at so I am going to catch some Zzzs. And again, if you have any ideas for me for a sequel I would love to hear them.**


	14. Epilogue

**AN: So this is it, the last little part of my story, the epilogue. Thank you to anyone and everyone who reviewed for me throughout the story, I really loved them. I know a lot of people would like a sequel, but I need ideas for it so if you have any, please give them to me, it would be much appreciated.**

Epilogue

The middle of June found two passionate lovers leaning against each other under the shade of an oak tree in a park that was so very familiar to them. Troy and Gabriella were tangled up together in their favorite spot in the park by her house. It was the place they spent many nights during the school year and now many days during the summer.

They were quite contempt just sitting together in silence soaking in each other's presence. Some wouldn't understand it since they had once spent so much time yelling at each other. But it could make sense if you looked at it as they were making up for all the silences they didn't share while shouting at each other. Both had fallen in love, but neither would admit it. For Troy it showed that he had deeper feelings and was as cold hearted as he once seemed. Gabriella was too afraid, because she wasn't willing to give away part of her heart. But it didn't matter because Troy had already managed to steal part of it, she just didn't want to admit that he had. Just as he wasn't willing to admit that she had done the same thing to him after taking down the wall around it.

"See, I told you we'd find them here, they are always here," One person said. Two of their friends approached them.

"Shut up," the other friend said, "Just because you were right for once doesn't mean you have to shout it to the world."

"What do you mean for once?" Chad said, "I have been right before."

"Yeah, like when?" Taylor asked disbelieving.

"Um, I can't think of one right now, but I sure I have been," Chad said think, "Whatever, it doesn't matter we found them."

Troy and Gabriella had been listening to them even though they had their eyes closed.

"I think they are asleep," Taylor said.

"They are totally faking," Chad said.

"He's right for a second time," Troy said slowly opening his eyes.

"Must be a record for him, twice in one day," Gabriella said also opening her eyes.

"I don't believe this," Taylor said rolling her eyes.

"Aww, come on baby," Chad said wrapping his arms around her waist and pulling her close to him. "It is one day of the year, tomorrow all will be back to normal."

"So you'll be dumb again?" Taylor asked, not ready to give into his charm just yet.

"I am just a little selective to when it comes to using my intelligence, " Chad said.

"Very selective," Taylor said laughing, and she gave in and let him kiss her. She and Chad had 'discovered' each other near the end of the school year in the middle of May. They flirted for about a week until Troy pushed him enough to ask her out. Then it was Gabriella's turn to push Taylor to say yes. Then with a lot of encouragement they went out on a double date with Troy and Gabriella. And since then have figured out that they were perfect for each other, perfectly complementary to each other's personality.

"So what do you want?" Gabriella asked, interrupting their moment.

"Shut up Gabriella, I finally got her," Chad waved at her to back off and stop before kissing Taylor again.

"We are going back to sleep," Troy said loudly and closed his eyes, Gabriella followed in suit.

"We can finish that later," Taylor said pulling back.

"Why can't it be later now?" Chad whined.

Taylor laughed and gave him a peck on the cheek, "Because, we came here to see if they wanted to go get something to eat with us. I know you aren't doing much just sitting there, but you have to get hungry sometime."

"I could go for a pizza," Gabriella said opening her eyes once more. She nudged Troy in the ribs. She could tell he was fake sleeping by a twitch in his mouth.

"As much as I am contempt here, I'd follow you guys to a pizza if Gabriella was going," Troy said finally.

"You are so cheesy," Gabriella laughed, standing up. She pulled Troy up too. "Come on Romeo."

"I'm coming," Troy said taking her hand. Gabriella linked arms with Taylor after Chad took Taylor's hand. "So what have you guys been up to today?"

"Nothing much, though more than you," Chad said.

"Well I think we did a lot today," Troy defended for himself and Gabriella.

"How the heck can you guys do that, has the glamour of dating already gone?"

"Nope, just more subtle than you," Gabriella said.

"I was going to say, you haven't been dating too much longer than us," Taylor said. Gabriella and Troy exchanged a look, "What?"

"Well that gap is a little bit bigger than you think," Gabriella said sheepishly and the four stopped walking as Chad and Taylor looked at the other two.

"Wait what?" Chad asked confused.

"We were dating before April and that day in the hallway," Troy said, unsure, "We just didn't tell you."

"So we went through all that planning and I gave you all of that encouragement for nothing?" Taylor asked Gabriella.

"No, it wasn't for nothing. We didn't know how to tell the school, so we went through that whole charade just so it looked more natural," Gabriella started to explain.

"We had a lot of secret, well not really secret, but private conversations up on the rooftop and a few at my house that no one really knew about," Troy picked up where she left off.

"And we wanted to tell you, we just didn't know how, we didn't want you to be mad at us," Gabriella pleaded.

"So all those nights I called you up at ask if you wanted to hang and you said you were busy, you with her?" Chad asked Troy.

"Most of them, the ones when I had really lame reasons why I couldn't, but the fancy dinner party with my parents was true. I fell asleep halfway through some old guy's speech," Troy said.

"Well now it all makes sense," Chad said.

"That is where you always went during free period? To the rooftop?" Taylor asked.

"Yeah, it was the only place no one would hear us or see what we were doing. We felt awful not telling you and had times where we tried to brainstorm ideas of how to tell you, but never came up with a good enough idea," Gabriella said.

"Yeah, I did a lot of thinking and it made my head hurt all for you bro," Troy directed at Chad.

"Why didn't you just come out and tell us?" Taylor asked.

"We wanted you to not be mad at us and still be our friends," Gabriella said.

"I would have always been your friend," Taylor said, "I really thought you knew that."

"You had always said how he was a dumb jock, I thought you hated him, so I also thought you'd hate me for being with him," Gabriella said, "And I know it sounds stupid now, but you were my first friend and best friend at East High, I didn't want to lose you."

"I will always be your friend, you will have to put up with me forever," Taylor said.

"Thank you," Gabriella let go of Troy's hand to hug Taylor.

"Same thing for us dude, all these years, never hid a thing from each other, why did you have to start now?" Chad said.

"Don't know why or how, but I will admit, I was a little bit frightened of what you would think of me," Troy said.

"You're my brother, and that is never gonna change, I'll be annoying you until the end of world," Chad said.

"Sweet, dude," Troy pounded fist with him as they shared a look.

"Now weren't we getting pizza?" Gabriella asked.

"Lets go!" Taylor said and the four started to walk down the sidewalk again. Now with their friendship bonds tighter and stronger than ever.

----------------------------

**AN: And that is it. The finally of the story until the sequel. And I still need ideas for the sequel. A few have formed in my head, but none of them are all that good. Tomorrow night I will probably start typing a new story if you want to check it out, if not, thank you for reading my story. GOODBYE!**


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